Citing the upcoming Education Ministers’ Conference and the anticipated recommendations from the independent expert committee on protecting children and youth in the digital world, the German Philologists’ Association (DPhV) is demanding “clear recommendations regarding private smartphones in schools and binding regulations governing how children and adolescents interact with social media.”
The association stated in a press release, which was reported by “Die Welt”, that the protection, participation, and empowerment of children and youth must be considered based on age and regulated comprehensively beyond the confines of the school environment.
Specifically concerning smartphones, the DPhV insists that their use during school hours must be regulated “bindingly.” They argue that schools need a legally secured framework instead of having to negotiate usage rules individually. As an example of this, Schleswig-Holstein introduced a school-wide ban on private devices outside of educational necessity and emergencies for grades one through nine starting in August 2025.
Lin-Klitzing, the chair of the DPhV, emphasized the scientific urgency, noting, “Neuroscientific findings clearly show that the brain region responsible for impulse control and reflection is still developing in adolescents, while the dopamine-driven reward reactions that social media and messaging services actively trigger are fully developed.” She pointed out that 60 percent of students exhibit usage behavior resembling addiction. Therefore, she added, “This is not solely an educational issue; it requires a political and societal catalog of measures so that schools can respond more effectively.”
Consequently, the Philologists’ Association expects the expert commission’s upcoming recommendations to “clearly address” social media usage. Lin-Klitzing pressed for legal obligations placed upon platform providers, urging them to disable addiction-promoting mechanisms for minors, technically enforce age restrictions, and assume liability for damages caused by their product designs. Her conclusion was pointed: “Anyone who wants to protect children must primarily regulate those who profit from their attention.”
