“We see it more as a game”

In the playground of the private school group Isaac de l’Étoile, in Poitiers, many groups of students have their eyes glued to their screens. Anaïs, a second-year student, is satisfied: “Before, I was seven hours a day in front of my phone. Today I am at four o’clock.” The fifteen-year-old teenager is one of those students who is experimenting with an educational and connected pocket, “Pozzz”, created by the Bordeaux startup, Genius Objects. The pocket helps regulate the time of use of the telephone , in exchange for multiple rewards, such as cinema or karting tickets.

This private Poitevin school group has been testing the device since the beginning of April for some of its 2,000 students, in 5th and 2nd class. At several times of the day, Anaïs slips her phone into the famous pocket, a sort of case with a zipper. Thanks to Bluetooth, an application counts the time when the device is no longer used.

“Let go his phone, no longer looking at social networks and no longer spending his time on social networks, it was complicated at first“, explains the teenager of fifteen years. “Before, when I was doing my homework, I had my phone right next to me and when I received a notification, I looked at it.“Anaïs now has more time in her days. She says she enjoys these moments”to spend some more time with my family and to read.”

The longer the phone pause times, the more points teens earn, which can be used to earn rewards. The school group puts around 500 euros to finance them. “You realize you don’t really need your phone. If you only watch it once in a while, that’s enough.“says Arthur, a fifth-grade student, who has just won a tree climbing session, thanks to his disconnection. “We see it more like a game and we are even rewarded for turning off our phone!“smiles Paul, a fifth-grade student, too.

“I think it’s very educational because it’s not your parents yelling at you to stop your phone.”

Paul, fifth grader

at franceinfo

For the moment, about twenty pockets are tested in the establishment. And every student plays the game.”This makes them responsiblebelieves Jérôme Schimizzi, the digital referent in the school group. I’m not convinced it would work that fast and that well without a reward. We speak to them with their words and their universe. So it’s not somethinghas-been or binding.“At the end of the experiment in mid-June, the teaching team will decide whether or not to generalize the use of these pockets. They could also be, for example, reserved for interns.