After focusing on tackling distracting mobile phone use among primary school children last year, the Irish government has now announced its intention to ban the devices in secondary schools.

Education Minister Norma Foley said this week that current attempts by secondary schools – which are attended by 12- to 18-year-olds – to restrict mobile phone use did not go far enough, and said it was time to establish a wider “culture of non-acceptance” of phone use.

Foley said:

I am currently in a situation where I would like to introduce a ban on mobile phones in secondary school.

All studies, including a United Nations study last year, show that mobile phones disrupt lessons in schools. They are also obviously a cause of cyberbullying, and we also know that the conversational community is greatly disrupted by students taking out their mobile phones at different times.

The government hopes that a blanket ban will put an end to the “constant buzzing” of mobile phones, which continues despite attempts to banish their influence from the classroom.

Similar measures have been taken in Italy and, more recently, Hungary, where authorities said that as a result, “school performance will improve and there will be less online bullying.”

Some Irish education commentators have questioned the enforceability of the proposed ban and also raised questions about whether action will be taken against similarly distracting tablet devices. But overall there seems to be a recognition that the intention is right and there is hope that the plan will produce positive educational outcomes.

Businessman Bobby Healy noted that while “there will be critics, the case for it has to be overwhelming.” American social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt added that a blanket ban would be better than “false cell phone bans,” “where cell phones are only ‘banned’ during class, which doesn’t work.”

Foley said it was her “absolute ambition” to include these plans in the upcoming October budget.