More Countries Ban Cell Phone Use in Schools; Will the U.S. Be Next?

By B.N. Frank

Even though an increasing number of American schools have recently started banning students’ use of cell phones and sometimes smartwatches, over the years, entire countries have been banning cell phones in schools. This now includes Russia and Sweden.

From Environmental Health Trust:

Russia and Sweden Banning Cell Phones in School

Russia and Sweden Banning Cell Phones in School

Russia and Sweden are the latest countries to ban cell phones in classrooms. Numerous other countries already have school cell phone prohibitions including England, France,Netherlands, Finland, Israel, China, Australia, Ontario, Greece, Ghana, Rwanda: and Uganda, but not the United States.

The Russian school cell phone ban is for all grades and the Swedish ban is for students from grades 1-9 (up to around 16 years). In Sweden, the ban extends even during breaks between classes

The amendments on cell phone prohibitions to Russia’s law on education are expected to be approved by senators in the upper-chamber Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin.

Dr. Oleg A. GRIGORIEV, Dr. Sc., Ph.D., Chairman, Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, Chairman of the Non-ionizing Radiation Departments, Scientific Consul for Radiobiology of the Russian Academy of Science and Radiobiology Scientific Society of the Russian Academy of Science stated:

“The ban on mobile phones in classes in Russian schools is established by law today in the Russian Parliament – State Duma. The ban was established for the first time in the mandatory Sanitary Regulations from January 2021. Now the ban on the use of mobile phones in school lessons has been included in the Education Law. This is the result of work we began together with colleagues from the team of Prof. V. Kuchma in the summer of 2020 – reducing the risk to children’s health from a complex of harmful factors of information and communication technologies, among the sources of risk in the first place is a cell phone or smartphone.”

Russia has several regulations regarding wireless radiation and health. To start they have allowable environmental levels much lower than U.S. FCC or ICNIRP limits.

Since 2021, the installation of cell tower and base station antennas on school property is prohibited by Russian Sanitary Rules and this pertains to any children’s organization, like children gardens, summer camps.

However numerous cell towers/base stations were installed before this time. Approximately 1/2 are in universities,and 800 in schools. New towers are not being built and old stations are being dismantled step by step. However, the wireless network operators estimate the total cost for move at several billion rubles and and are lobbying to slow the dismantling of new towers.

The Ministry of Health and Russian Committee for Non-ionizing Radiations Protection issued recommendations on safe technology during quarantine.

Short Summary of Recommendations.

Reduce the use of computers by children
Don’t use smartphones for educational purposes until the age of 18.
For all age categories for reading and completing tasks it is recommended to use books
Children under 6 years old must completely exclude the use of any computer equipment for educational purposes at home.
Children aged 6 to 12 are advised to minimize the use of computer equipment for educational purposes at home.
If necessary to use headphones, limit continuous use to no more than an hour at a volume of not more than 60%.
The duration of all types of on-screen activities for children of this age group should not exceed 2 hours per day (including viewing TV).
Using tablets for distance learning at home conditions is permissible by adolescents over 15 years of age.
The location of the Wi-Fi point should be at a distance of at least 5 meters from the student’s workplace. The tablet should be placed on a table on a stand at an angle of 30° with the distance from the screen to the pupil’s eyes not less than 50cm. It is necessary to exclude work with a laptop or tablet on knees, in hands, lying and the like.