According to the government of The Netherlands, tablets, mobile phones and smartwatches will be banned from classrooms starting January 1, 2024, to limit the level of distractions among students. 

The only exceptions to the ban would be if they are specifically needed, such as for lessons on digital skills, for medical reasons, or for people with disabilities.

Education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said, "Even though mobile phones are intertwined with our lives, they do not belong in the classroom". 

“Students need to be able to concentrate and need to be given the opportunity to study well. Mobile phones are a disturbance, scientific research shows. We need to protect students against this", he added.

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The decision is the result of an agreement between the ministry, schools, and related organizations.

Dijkgraaf suggested that schools can organize the ban on their own terms but legal rules will ensue if this does not produce enough results by the summer of 2024.

Such a decision has been clinically proven to be legitimate. A study revealed in December that using smart devices to distract or calm infants during tantrums may impede their healthy emotional development and make them more volatile over time.

"Although using videos, apps, or photographs on a device may be effective in distracting or assuaging a young child’s distress at the moment, the results of this … study suggest that this practice may become a more frequent habit with more emotionally reactive children and that this may worsen their emotion-regulation skills over time," researchers marked.