Baden-Wurttemberg

Smartphone addicts: Finally, there was a lot of discussion how young people can be protected against excessive cell phone consumption. Some schools in BW rely on special media trainers.

Should you ban smartphones in school? Only allow social media from the age of 16? In the past few weeks, it has always been discussed about how young people can best bring to a responsible handling of their smartphone. Special media trainers can help with this who offer “tutoring” at schools.

Just like at the community school “Am Stromberg” in Illingen-Maulbronn (Enzkreis). The principal Wiebke Renner-Kasper says: “It is very important to us that we accompany the students in this digital world that we do not leave them alone with dangers, with problems, with question marks.”

That is why media coach Clemens Beisel is often guests here. This time he works with the ninth grade. The students sit in a semicircle, all have their cell phones on their laps. The first question in the workshop: “How long are you on your cell phone?” Beisel shows you how to look at the screen time.

Several hours of cell phone consumption every day

The pupils use their cell phone daily for up to nine hours. At Mia it is less, but she still thinks: “I would sometimes say that it is too much. I could also deal differently, especially if it’s warm outside now.”

According to the Battle of Research 2024 On average, young people are on the cell phone for almost three hours a day. Computer, laptop, television are still coming on top. However, Clemens Beisel assumes an even longer screen time. He regularly sees the time spent on the smartphones of the students with whom he works.

Apps are intentionally addicted

However, Clemens Beisel believes that it is almost impossible to put the cell phone away: “Psychologists and psychologists work hand in hand with the IT developers every day in order to make the apps even more addicted every day.” In a video, he shows the students why the cell phone has such a great attraction – also for adults. The media trainer explains: “The bright colors of cell phone and apps are attractive for our eye. For example, red as a signal color. The colors aim to attract our attention.” His tip: place the cell phone silently and on black and white.

“We don’t find an end because there is no end”

Another trick of the apps is, according to Clemens Beisel, that most social networks and Games on our smartphones are endless. “We don’t find an end because there is no end.” However, our brain is geared to finish things. Pupils also feel that, like Arno: “Sometimes it pulls, so even if you only want to go to your cell phone briefly and then you are 20 minutes or half an hour directly on your cell phone, the time flies a lot quickly.”

Scrolling is impossible in real life

Then Clemens Beisel asks the next question to the students: “Which apps do you use every day?” The answers here correspond approximately to the JIM study (Jim stands for youth, information, media) from 2024. Mainly young people use WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok. Here in the class there are many three hours a day on Tiktok. Each video is only viewed on average, so there is a quick time to have several hundred videos a day.

This does something with the ability to concentrate, also says student Dunya: “I can imagine that you can no longer concentrate for more important things in life because you are just scrolling all the time. And if you don’t like this, you can go on directly until a video comes on what you like. And in real life, for example, if someone talks to you, you can’t just listen to you.”

Apps exert enormous pressure on young people

Many use Snapchat. In the app you send each other pictures that disappear after a certain time. But there are also videos of influencers. Using this app, Clemens Beisel explains the possession effect. This also leads to even more cell phone time: “There is a kind of emotional bond because we have invested a lot of time and energy. The sum of followers on Instagram or Tiktok was a lot of time and work. The flame on Snapchat. That was a lot of time and work.”

For those who have no snapchat, student Hanna explains what the flame is actually there: “If you send each other snaps, so pictures, you get a flame per day as a symbol.” That would be more every day, but as soon as you stop snapping from one side, they would be deleted, all flames are simply gone.

Clemens Beisel finds an enormous pressure from Snapchat. No snap, no photo sent a day and it is not just one less, but all flames are gone. Regardless of whether you are sick or on vacation or have to learn. “And why do the apps do this? Because you should come in every day, but it’s really completely shit that you then have such a feeling or that the apps put you under pressure and then make you bad feelings,” said Clemens Beisel. YouTube also has flames. On Instagram it is the followers that could be lost, with many game apps additional functions.

Dangerous Tikok Challenges

Not only the sheer amount is difficult, the content is also often: beauty filter, for example; Or the notorious Tikkok Challenges – something like test samples. Clemens Beisel spoke about this in many workshops. “It came out that in every class, students actually took part in one or the other challenge. Often they were harmless things, but often these were also things that led to injuries or in the worst case even a suicide, suicide.”

Die Students The ninth level have no problems with Tikkok Challenges. Almost everyone has already seen unpleasant videos, including Hanna: “You can just click on it and then you watch the video. So you never really know what happens right away.” If cruel, sexist or racist videos were displayed, this has no consequences for the apps, according to Clemens Beisel to the pupils. “If I showed you such videos, I would get a punishment for it. But nothing happens to the companies. They just go on.” Control – none.

Left alone with your smartphone

It is clear to the young people that they are alone with their cell phones. Mia summarizes it as follows: “It is not controlled by the app. It is not controlled by the parents. It is also clear if I watch over a hundred videos in the hour, how should they understand that. There is no one with whom I look at the videos, I’m on my own.”

The workshop comes in there. Now the youngsters know the tricks of the apps. And know what you can do. Some want to hire time limits. A few have already set their cell phone to a black and white representation – to shorten their screen time.

Prize on Thursday, 3.7.2025 7:30 p.m., SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg, SWR BW

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