The Monocle Minute

The second week of September heralds the start of a new school year in much of Europe. It’s a time of fresh starts, new experiences and, this year, novel legislation. In some countries, such as Greece and the Netherlands, pupils will be banned from using smartphones during school hours. These rules follow advice issued last week by the Swedish public-health authority, which recommends that children should not be exposed to any screens before the age of two. All of this comes not a moment too soon.

That excessive screen time is damaging to children might seem like a universally acknowledged fact. Indeed, if you have even a cursory awareness of what’s going on in the news, you will have found it difficult to avoid the publicity surrounding Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, a bestselling book that argues that smartphone use is one of the leading causes of mental-health issues among young people. Still, there is a difference between arguments made in a book and warnings issued by a democratically elected government.

Anna Lembke, a Stanford University psychiatrist, says that addiction “begins with intermittent use, progresses into daily use and then progresses into consequential use”. Such a description will be familiar to many who have been around a young person and their smartphone. Certain apps and content directed at children are designed to be compulsively consumed – something that their makers often admit. Again, it would seem obvious that allowing these things in environments where a child is supposed to be learning will inhibit their development, not just educationally but also socially and physically. But smartphone use is now so entrenched in young people’s lives that if they are to be freed it has to be a collective effort. This new legislation will empower parents and teachers to give children the fresh start that a new school year promises. Hopefully, it will be replicated elsewhere.

Alexis Self is Monocle’s foreign editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Pedro Sánchez and Jonas Gahr Støre, the prime ministers of Spain and Norway, are in China this week in a bid to ease political tensions with Beijing. China’s probe into EU pork imports – retaliation for the EU’s tariffs on Chinese EVs – is Sánchez’s main concern, as Spain is Europe’s largest exporter of pork products. Meanwhile, Norway’s visit is focused on building a peaceful and ecologically responsible future in the Arctic and holding Xi Jinping to account over his refusal to condemn Russia’s aggression.

“It’s often difficult to co-ordinate national interests with EU interests,” Bill Hayton, associate fellow at Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific programme, told The Globalist on Monocle Radio. “China uses these types of meetings to play a divide-and-rule game. Beijing is much happier dealing with nation states than it is dealing with blocs. This tactic has worked in Cambodia to undermine Southeast Asian unity. EU nations need to be careful that China doesn’t take advantage of their size difference.”

For more on Spain and Norway’s leaders’ China trip, tune in to Tuesday’s edition of ‘The Globalist’ on Monocle Radio.

Responsibility for managing Manila’s state-owned Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will be transferred to a private consortium on Saturday – welcome news for travellers flying into and out of the Philippines. Filipino conglomerate San Miguel is leading the turnaround of the capital’s heavily congested aviation hub. NAIA’s new operators want travellers to feel a noticeable upgrade by the end of this year.

“We are being given the opportunity to improve the main gateway to the Philippines,” San Miguel’s CEO, Ramon Ang, told Monocle in our September issue. “There will be a big difference by Christmas.” As a keen flyer, Ang is on a personal mission to fix his country’s rickety transport infrastructure before he retires. Alongside its work on NAIA, San Miguel is also building a “world-class” second airport to serve the capital. After countless delays and decades of neglect, aviation in the Philippines could soon be flying high.

For more on Ramon Ang and Manila’s aviation hub, pick up a copy of Monocle’sSeptember issue, which is out now.

Woodcarving company Zanat has opened its first shop in Sarajevo’s National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company is celebrated for preserving regional carving traditions while producing contemporary pieces, often in collaboration with international designers. Its shop, the Home of Zanat, occupies a handsome ground-floor space linked to the main gallery and displays the brand’s latest collections, rare original pieces and samples.

Studioilse developed the space’s design direction, while its interiors were overseen by Sarajevo-based architecture studio No_Lab. The shop will also serve as a cultural hub. “In addition to our own products, we plan to offer a curated selection of books and coffee in collaboration with Kawa, an artisanal roastery and café from Sarajevo,” Orhan Nikšić, Zanat’s CEO, tells The Monocle Minute. “The National Gallery and the Home of Zanat symbolise the relationship between tradition and innovation. This is what defines Sarajevo today.”

Interviews from the recent Maison&Objet trade fair and Paris Design Week.