As the European Union moves towards common rules on children’s access to social media through the EU KIDS Act, what happens when those same children walk through the school gates remains governed by a patchwork of national, regional and school-level rules.

“My position is clear: smartphones should be switched off and not used throughout the entire school day, except where teachers specifically require them for educational purposes,” Sandro Ruotolo (S&D/ITA) says.

The European Parliament lawmaker, who headed a recent report on the impact of social media and the online environment on young people, says that phones in schools “need a common European rule, not twenty-seven different national initiatives”.

Currently, that is not the case. While the EU is preparing to set unified age limits for access to social media, there is no common European approach to restricting smartphone use in schools.

Some governments require schools to ensure that devices are switched off during lessons. Others impose restrictions throughout the school day or target specific age groups.

“Nothing about us, without us”

However, not everyone agrees with Ruotolo. Kacper Bogalecki, a board member of the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU), argues that greater European coordination is of “great value”. But when it comes to unified approach, he does not believe in “one universal rule that may suit every educational environment”.

The organisation’s guiding principle is “nothing about us, without us”. It argues that students should be involved in policymaking, as “policies that shape this issue without them risk missing the problem or the desired outcome entirely, thereby losing their legitimacy in the eyes of many students.”

Don’t design rules from behind desks of policymakers alone. The relevant input from practitioners should direct the pathway.
— Petra van Haren, director of the European School Heads Association

According to Bogalecki, many students recognise the problems associated with phone use. Resistance comes when policies become blanket, punitive or disconnected from the reality of how students use digital technology.

“For example, students may understand a restriction on using a phone during a lesson while finding a complete prohibition throughout the entire school day disproportionate,” he said.

Petra van Haren, director of the European School Heads Association, similarly sees advantages in greater alignment between countries. To her, a common approach could reduce “confusion or feelings of unfairness”.

But she also cautions against rules developed without the people expected to implement them. “Don’t design rules from behind desks of policymakers alone. The relevant input from practitioners should direct the pathway,” Van Haren told EU Perspectives.

Phone as learning aids

Schools have become increasingly reliant on technology. Learning platforms, timetables and educational resources are often online. Smartphones can provide students with immediate access to information and communication tools.

“So banning phones also means redesigning the way we have become to rely on the phone for communication and learning,” Van Haren said.

Ruotolo, by contrast, argues that school should remain “a fundamental place for growth, relationships and social interaction”, without students being continually pulled back into the digital world.

He points to the addictive design of many digital platforms, comparing it to a form of “third-millennium tobacco addiction”. Features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and constant notifications are designed to retain users’ attention, he argues. To the lawmaker, the problem cannot be addressed through individual self-control alone.

Banning phones also means redesigning the way we have become to rely on the phone for communication and learning.
— Petra van Haren, director of the European School Heads Association

But whether stricter restrictions translate into better academic outcomes is less clear. Van Haren told EU Perspectives that schools implementing stronger restrictions often report “more peace and focus and human-centred social behaviour”.

The latest PISA results, which assess the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students across dozens of countries, show that almost half of students across OECD countries attended schools where mobile phones were banned.

Nevertheless, students in schools with phone restrictions generally recorded similar or, in many countries, lower science scores than their peers. The assessment also found that moderate educational use of digital devices can be associated with stronger performance. However, more than an hour of leisure use during the school day is consistently associated with lower science performance.

From blanket bans to “parking places”

In early 2026, the European Commission’s Expert Network on Economics and Sociology of Education and Training (ENESET) described European policies as ranging from complete bans during school hours to conditional or supervised use. Some schools have introduced solutions such as “smartphone parking places” to keep devices away during the school day.

ENESET also noted that around 40% of education systems worldwide had some form of restriction by 2024.

Across the EU, national-level restrictions exist in Greece, France, Italy, Latvia, Hungary, the Netherlands and Portugal. However, the rules differ in terms of the age groups covered, implementation and exceptions. Latvia and Portugal, for example, have focused restrictions on younger students, while Greece and Hungary have applied them more broadly. Germany, Spain and Belgium have instead relied on regional or community-level approaches.

The trend has since accelerated. France extended its mobile-phone prohibition to upper-secondary schools from the current school year. Sweden also introduced a nationwide ban in July 2026.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has proposed the KIDS Act, which includes an EU-wide graduated approach to access to social media. Under the proposal, children below 13 would not have social media accounts.

The contrast is striking: Brussels is moving towards common rules for children’s digital lives online. But what happens to their smartphones once they enter the school gates remains largely a matter for individual countries, regions and schools.