Even the dullest minds seem to have understood that allowing cell phones in the classroom is not a good idea. The authorities - who were reticent about it for fear of getting wet in front of the voters - have decreed that there are neither in institutes nor in schools, either inside or outside the classroom. Is it time to take the next step: ban them from the streets? Four years ago it was the municipality of Yamato, in Japan, that took this initiative. But now the novelty falls closer to us.
In France, near Paris, there is a place called Seine-Port, which should ring a bell for cinephiles because Catherine Deneuve and her sister Françoise Dorléac had some roots there. Well, the Seine-Port City Council has issued regulations "on the proper use of screens". It was approved after a referendum in which the inhabitants decided (with 54% of the votes in favor) that mobile phones are not only prohibited in schools but also in shops - in all kinds of shops - and even all on the street This is the end of walking like a zombie with your eyes fixed on the screen, completely oblivious to what surrounds you, including the front.
The reason is well known: the large number of accidents for this reason. Opponents of the new regulation say it is intolerably intrusive and that it curtails people's freedom. Those who are in favor say that it also restricts people's freedom to have to stop at a red light and that it is the parents who must teach their children to make good use of the screens.
What will people do who are no longer able to walk down the street without taking their eyes off their smartphone? In Le Parisien a woman laments and confesses that, without a mobile phone, she feels alone. He wonders: "Without him, what would I do? To see how the cars go by?". Cars or tractors, which these days you can choose.
