A ban on cell phones in schools is simply not feasible, I am a student myself. But it is important that there are rules. I sometimes need my cell phone during lessons, e.g. to scan a QR code or to register for exams. A ban is not helpful, you can't simply ignore the reality that people need their cell phones in everyday life.

Would you be in favor of a ban on cell phones in the workplace?

I don't think so, because you can use your cell phone as a spirit level, calculator, flashlight or even to make calls.  It has become a work tool and that's how it should be used at school, using the positive aspects and limiting the negative ones in a way that children can understand. Nobody sticks to a ban anyway.

I've been teaching for over 30 years and the relationship between children and teachers has been completely transformed by the use of cell phones.

A must-read is the book by philosopher David Le Breton: "&nbsp;La fin de la conversation&nbsp;" which shows how the interposition of the screen in our relationship with others generates new behaviors: fragmentation of conversation, the obligation to have an immediate response and satisfaction to everything, so difficulty in accepting frustration (hence sometimes violence or aggressive behavior), difficulty in listening, in paying attention to the other person in front of you, difficulty in enduring boredom. And paradoxically (despite the fact that the cell phone is supposed to connect people), isolation and malaise are increasingly marked.  