How would young people, instead of politicians, decide how and whether smartphones would be used in their everyday school life? You could get an insight into this Friday in Parliament.
At the 26th Youth Parliament, students between the ages of 14 and 15 had the opportunity to take on the role of representatives in the House of Representatives for a day and discuss a fictitious legislative proposal to ban smartphones, smartwatches and similar devices in schools and at school events . At the Youth Parliament, the students learn in a playful way how laws are created – how representatives work and the parliamentary process works. Over 100 young people from the Hallein Fashion School, HTL1 Linz, BRG Salzburg, BRG Enns and PTS Schwanenstadt took part in this edition.
They had a proposed law that would require students to hand in their devices at the beginning of the school day and only get them back when they go home. Three violations of the ban should result in expulsion from school.
Discussion and exchange
The students met in parliament on Thursday to immerse themselves in the topic and parliamentary operations. Work in the “clubs” started on Friday morning. There were four in total – white, yellow, orange, purple. “Real” representatives from all political groups were available to the clubs. At the Orange Club, for example, Bernhard Herzog (SPÖ) explained the rules that apply in clubs. The bill in question was discussed in the clubs. “Unnecessary”, “excessive”, “not all school levels are the same”, “basically a good idea” are heard during the first exploratory discussions. Alternatives were suggested and club chairmen, secretaries and committee members were elected. Before the committee meetings began, Elisabeth Götze (Greens) briefed the elected members in the Weiß Club. The four clubs presented their views in the committee.
Some of the content had already been made public. Students in the role of press spokespersons were interviewed by the social media team – on other days their classmates. The team’s work could be followed on the parliament’s channels on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and Bluesky – in some cases even live.
While the club representatives discussed the different arguments in the committee, discussions continued in the clubs themselves. In the thematic area, the young people were supported in the discussion by the topic experts Barbara Buchegger (saferinternet) and Andreas Huber-Marx (digilearn).
Collaboration in clubs and alliances
The committee meeting was adjourned to allow members to return to their clubs and report on the views of other clubs. It was now a matter of finding other clubs to work with. “In order to decide something, we need a majority,” one student explained to her colleagues. In the Violett club, Bettina Zopf (ÖVP) helped sort out the arguments. Key content issues were voted on in the clubs by a show of hands. “I think it’s good how we reach a result through voting. I thought it would happen anonymously, that surprised me,” said Ylvie Seiter from HTL1 Linz.
The lunch break was used for informal discussions with members of other clubs. “We are very popular, both the oranges and the yellows want to form a coalition with us,” says a student after the break in the White Club. The clubs voted on the coalition options. Then the negotiations began. Two negotiators were sent to each faction and the red lines on which there should be no compromises were noted on pieces of paper. Maximilian Weinzierl (FPÖ) supported the coalition talks and gave tips on what the negotiators should pay attention to. Things progressed quickly, the negotiating atmosphere was good, arguments were explained in more detail and misunderstandings were cleared up. The press – a student from the media team – was also present and recorded everything in his notebook. At the end of the day you will be able to read the report in the newspaper that was made by the young people during the Youth Parliament.
The negotiators from Orange and White sealed a coalition with handshakes. Jumps in the air could be observed on the way back to the clubs. Christoph Pramhofer (Neos) explained to the Yellow Club that you could also vote for a proposed law if you were in the opposition.
Amendment tabled in committee
The interrupted committee meeting resumed at 1:30 p.m. The committee members of the orange-white coalition had with them a motion for amendment, which had previously been put into words with the help of a lawyer from the parliamentary directorate. The most significant changes: The smartphone ban should apply until the 9th grade, after which students should decide for themselves whether to use the smartphone or not. The passage with school expulsions was deleted. Violations up to the 5th grade should be discussed and clarified with the legal guardians; from the 5th grade onwards there are class register entries. If there are more than three violations and a conversation with the legal guardian does not lead to a change in behavior, social services should be provided. Club Yellow stated in the committee that they would approve the application. The amendment was finally approved with the votes of the Violets.
Back in the clubs we started preparing the speeches for the upcoming “National Council meeting”. It didn’t take long to find speakers – many students agreed to present their club’s positions.
Youth Parliament passes cell phone ban
The debate on the orange and white legislative proposal started in the plenary session at 3 p.m. National Council President Walter Rosenkranz took over the chairmanship. The clubs have a total of 60 minutes of speaking time, Rosenkranz explained.
A representative of the Violet Club opened the debate on the topic of smart devices in everyday school life: “The work in the club went well, we mostly had the same opinion. All the clubs were relatively friendly,” said Ivan Pavic. Unlike in the committee, representatives of the Violets explained why they could not agree to the coalition’s amendment – for example because of the social hours it contains for multiple violations. A short discussion then broke out in the plenary session about the social hours; according to the Violet Club, these were “not clearly defined” in the application.
Ivona Markovic from the Orange club commented on the proposed law: “We have decided that the devices should be allowed in higher school levels, since nowadays you can also learn well online.” Her club colleague Felix Forstner said: “I came, I saw, I won – that’s what Julius Caesar said. We came, we saw, we won – that’s what we said today. We were able to implement our commandments well with our coalition partner. Digitalization is unstoppable and We have to use them.”
Mona Putschögl (Yellow) said: “It was a great experience to discuss together and find a solution. We found the original legislative proposal too strict.” Club colleague Nadine Aigner: “We immediately agreed that we were in favor of a ban, but that there should at least be exceptions, such as breaks and free periods.”
Jin Hongyu, Club White, explained that they had campaigned for “freedom for high school students from this original gag agreement and at school events.” He appealed to yellow and purple to agree to the proposed law put forward by his and the orange club.
Initiatives to promote digital skills
His club colleague Jakob Buchberger introduced a motion for a resolution. A training program for teachers in the area of digital skills should be introduced. Motions for resolutions were also tabled by the other political groups. The “federal government” was called upon to take measures to promote the increased use of digital elements in school lessons. In addition, students should be familiarized with the responsible use of digital media once a month and students should be given a say in which school devices are made available to them.
Walter Rosenkranz thanked him for the fair debate. “We are now going to vote,” said the President of the National Council. The moment of truth came: the Orange and White clubs’ smartphone ban law was passed with the votes of Yellow. Three out of four motions for resolutions were approved. The one about the right to have a say in school equipment was rejected.
In their closing words, the “real” MPs were enthusiastic about the work and speeches of the young people. “There is no need to worry about the future of democracy in Austria,” summarized Walter Rosenkranz. As soon as the meeting was over, the 88 “Young Parliamentarians” were able to read about the day’s developments in the Youth Parliament’s newspaper, which was distributed to them. (Final) map
A NOTICE: Photos from this event as well as one Review of past events can be found on the Parliament’s web portal. The plenary session of the Youth Parliament is available as video-on-demand in the Parliament’s media library available.