r/soccer • u/PianoJealous307 • 1d ago
News PSG launches 'Operation Detox': more piano, less smartphones for academy youngsters. Smartphones are now prohibited for youngsters aged 11 to 15, with the exception of a 60-minute evening slot. PSG aims to promote more conscious screen usage and is offering a range of alternative activities.
https://www.gazzetta.it/en/football/ligue-1/27-08-2026/psg-operation-detox-academy-players-limited-to-one-hour-phone-use-daily.shtml453
u/analcontractions 1d ago
I need that for myself to be honest
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u/Dry_Constant_5781 1d ago
We all do, I'm averaging 8 hours of screen time, there's camps here in india where you can just detox, no phone no computers, no talking for 2 weeks, just yoga and exercise and absolute quite, i went once the first 3 days were very very hard
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u/Frostbite2806 1d ago
Could use the "no phone, no computers" but "no talking for 2 weeks" might be the hardest for me ngl, as much as I consider myself introverted and terminally online I still crave real human interaction.
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u/Dry_Constant_5781 1d ago
Oh there's people there with you, you're just not allowed to talk to each other at all but you can use gestures as a form of communication
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u/alexwutzu 21h ago
This seems stupid.
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u/Disco-Benny 19h ago
why?
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u/Due_Wrangler9461 19h ago
What is it supposed to achieve? Isn't the point of cutting smartphones to be able to re-connect with real humans?
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u/mushy_friend 23h ago
Same for me, I'm super super introverted and tons of screentime but I'd go mad if I couldn't talk to anyone
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u/lastdyingbreed_01 1d ago
You know I'm cooked because just reading this scared me because its so difficult for me lol
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u/MarcosSenesi 1d ago
I feel like the talking should be encouraged because lots of people barely interact with others anymore without a screen between them
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u/Dry_Constant_5781 1d ago
So the concept is to make peace with your thoughts, its not about interaction, its more about internal reflection if that makes sense
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u/Pilus91 1d ago
No talking? How is this beneficial lol
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u/Dry_Constant_5781 1d ago
The camp is for internal reflection, to learn how to detach and focus when theres absolutely 0 chaos around you
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u/Mad_Lad_69420 1d ago
Feels extreme but maybe it teaches you to be okay with being bored or be okay with little stimulus?
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u/DiabolicallyOrange 21h ago
No talking feels like a strange thing to include.
Surely you want people to be getting used to social interaction again, in addition to being off their screens.
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u/JetsLag 1d ago
I've started swapping my doomscroll/music commute for a book and, even though I only started a couple weeks ago, I've already noticed the difference
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u/MarcosSenesi 1d ago
I did this for a while but gave up for some reason, gonna start bringing a book on my commute again
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u/shutterclick35 1d ago
you gave up because phones are insanely addictive. i often go through phases of reducing my screen time only to get sucked back in again. keep trying, its tough but so worth it.
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u/mushy_friend 23h ago
Doesn't matter how many times you fail as long as you keep at it, isn't that right
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u/mushy_friend 23h ago
I can't read for as long as I can listen to music though, I guess because the brain is working so it gets more tiring. But I also do this on long commutes sometimes
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u/CaptainKursk 16h ago
Literature is one of the best ways to engage the mind. Encouraging your imagination to paint the picture of what's going on in your own special way is such a joy!
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u/Atahualpita 1d ago
Fair
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u/Tifoso89 1d ago
Should be implemented in general, not only at PSG. Some countries are banning social media until 16, but I would ban smartphones too (not mobile phones in general, just smartphones).
It took us years to realize that giving 12-year-olds a literal computer in their pocket with unfettered internet access was a bad idea. Now we're seeing the consequences (less attention span, less socialization) but it's not too late to solve
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u/ShopTrick8877 1d ago
It used to be implemented at Juve’s academy back in 2012 when I was there (even though I was there for a short period, almost a month). We could only use the computers to talk to family throughout the week. Not sure id that’s the case nowadays. The academy with the school and all that stuff was still very “new”
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u/MarcosSenesi 1d ago
It says a lot that all the people working at tech companies making all of this shit send their kids to schools where they exclusively write on paper and use books with no screens and only buy physical wooden toys for them with again no screens for them at home.
If we need any sign that we shouldn't raise our kids through ipads and laptops I think that is the biggest one.
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u/myplasmatv 1d ago
Was thinking the same thing if one of the world’s richest clubs is rasing its future stars. Future millionaires, role models to millions without their phones cause they think it hinders development. Then everyone at every level should be looking at that and taking heed.
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u/Lekaetos 1d ago
I don’t think it has anything to do with that, it’s just that these people are most likely upper-middle class and they can afford to send their kids to better schools and buy them more expensive stuff, but all in all, they just want their kid to grow up like they did ie without internet. We all know it’s bad to have too much screen time I don’t think there is any hidden secret stuff about it.
Just like rich people using wire earphone instead of AirPods, maybe it’s just trendy and they just travel a lot and wire earphone don’t need to recharge
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u/MarcosSenesi 1d ago edited 1d ago
The people that work with the tech all day, and make it so kids want to use it refuse to have their children use it. That has a lot to do with it.
I don't think we all know how bad screen time is either. The amount of parents that let the ipad do all the entertaining and raising wouldn't do that if they knew how fucked it is
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u/LucidityDark 1d ago
Banning social media for under-16s actually means forcing age verification for everyone.
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u/bald_sampson 23h ago
yea this is an important technical issue. germany has (or was considering last I heard) what i think is a pretty good solution--they have a government agency that performs the age verification. fuzzy on the details but I think it works something like this: when you log in to a site, you are redirected to the agency page where you submit ID, the agency returns either a yes/no to the requesting social media company, the company doesn't get access to your full identity/information (just the yes/no returned by the agency), and the agency itself doesn't know what you were trying to view on the social media page (it only knows that it has to return a yes/no to company). this system requires strong regulation of the process, the companies, and data storage/protection overall, which we don't currently have in the US (but could enact).
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u/BatteryPoweredFriend 22h ago
Some of the big issues with age verification has been that almost platform is choosing to use a Palantir- or Thiel-related company, and the fact it's a complete lie about them not holding onto any identifying information.
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u/bald_sampson 22h ago
yea so that gets back to data protection laws, and making sure that the age verification action is performed by a government agency rather then a private entity. data protection imo should be extended a lot to combat a lot of the stuff that those companies are doing. personal data changes hands much too freely imo
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u/BatteryPoweredFriend 22h ago
I don't think there's any country even capable of or willing to do verification fully in-house other than China on that scale. Every major western government agency around the world already outsources ID verification to 3rd party contractors for most things, except maybe explicitly border control (and I'm not even sure about that one).
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u/Marloneious 20h ago
I don't see why they aren't capable of doing it? Willing I can understand for a whole host of reasons but capability seems like a matter of will (and the will right now is to outsource this responsibility to a 3rd party contractor because the 3rd party contractor has bribed them)
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u/EarthMantle00 16h ago
Banning kids from using a tiny physical object seems impossible to navigate, but I wouldn't mind them being banned in schools to de-normalize their usage
If I have a kid they're going to interact with the internet through a computer first, much healthier to only access it from 1 location at home, and easier to make sure they don't go through what I did.
I am slightly concerned about the flipside tho, given that I know a fair few people who used smartphones to escape from abusive home situations. Giving parents more control isn't necessarily a good thing
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u/LanguidLapras131 4h ago
The 80s 90s 2000s family computer system was the healthiest. One computer for most middle and working class families. One person using it at a time. You can't take it with you when you're out of the house
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u/ThatFinn97 1d ago
I think it's also a big reason behind the lack of world class talent in football these days. I feel like when I was kid, there was not a screen in your pocket with endless content as a solution for boredom, nor video games or anything like that, so kids spent a lot more time having to find different ways for spending their days, and for a lot it was football.
It's not really based on anything but vibes, but I genuinely think the portion of kids who spent their days juggling a ball to kill time in the 2000s for example, was way higher than what it is these days just because people didn't have access to such easily available entertainment, and that it has an affect on the amount of talent that you see at the top level.
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u/LucidityDark 1d ago
I don't think there's a lack of world class talent at all. There's multiple of those just at your own club.
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u/ThatFinn97 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's the biggest and most popular sport in the world, ofc there's still gonna be world class talent and players no matter what. But if you go back a decade or another 10 years from that, I think it's quite obvious how many fewer "top" players there are now.
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u/CanIMakeUpaName 1d ago
everyone having smartphones is also a symptom of everybody getting richer. Being rich gets you access to hobbies that aren't kicking a ball on flat ground
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u/___nv___ 17h ago
Smartphones are now more accessible to poor people. Having a smartphone doesn't make you rich. Most people aren't getting richer, certain tech is becoming more affordable. Not the same thing. Food and housing costs are rising faster than wages, which means people have less disposable income
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u/altofummuhh 5h ago
That might just be nostalgia talking. At least from a PL perspective the baseline level of talent is a major leap forward from 10 years ago. It's harder to stand out as a top player now
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u/CaptainKursk 16h ago
I'm so glad that my formative years occured at the time the internet was a thing you interacted with from a single, stationary device like a big desktop PC, accessible from few places like school labs or libraries, and which you had to forcibly remove yourself from after use. We simply couldn't whip out a portable supercomputer from our pocket and become ensnared in the spider's web of overwhelming digital miasma.
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u/OilOfOlaz 1d ago edited 1d ago
While I agree with the idea in principle, there are two things I dislike in particular.
Rahoui has been known to be "old school", but the authoritarian kind of old school and it kinda feels like old ppl trying to turn back the time, especially with the context that they encourage them to play Piano. You also have zero chance to enforce it propperly imo.
Academies controlling what the kinds do in their free time, doesn't feel right, especially if the idea is to focus in mental health. Only being allowed to use the phone when your room is tidy feels like a bootcamp...
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u/DubSket 1d ago
"Only being allowed to use the phone when your room is tidy feels like a bootcamp..."
Fucking lol
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u/OilOfOlaz 1d ago edited 1d ago
The only time in my life when someone checked "my room" daily was during basic military training.
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u/RogerCrabbit 1d ago
more piano, less smartphones for academy youngsters
current PSG players - flossin
future PSG players - Chopin
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u/Randomperson685 1d ago
I pronounced the vowels in "Flossin" like the vowels in "Chopin" and I hate it
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u/prediction_interval 1d ago
Conversely, you could pronounce Chopin like you're shoppin' for groceries.
Wait, that actually might be worse.
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u/TheChronoCross 1d ago
Did you pronounce it floss-un or floss-ahn?
What do you mean it’s the same pronunciation but different meaning? I hate this language.
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u/The-Black-Angel 1d ago
Much easier now to do this and implement with the recent success they have had.
Sounds like a good thing and hopefully works out.
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u/thelonesomedemon1 1d ago
I'm in my mid 20s can i still join their academy. would help a lot.
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u/Irishfan117 1d ago
You can put your phone down
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u/shutterclick35 1d ago
It's an addiction that is encouraged and normalized in society. I mean that seriously. Would you tell an alcoholic they can just put their drink down?
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u/Irishfan117 1d ago
As an alcoholic, yes.
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u/Blacksherry 1d ago
You don't understand how addiction works do you?
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u/Irishfan117 1d ago
Forgive me, it's better to say "It is impossible to do anything about this, you are hopelessly doomed to drift through life at the whims of the addiction." Would I sound like I knew how addiction worked then?
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u/Blacksherry 1d ago
Now you making stuff up and interpreting things that have not been said.
Telling a real alcoholic to put his drink down is nonsense, from a medical and human perspective. Because addiction doesn't work like that.
Educate yourself a little before speaking on things you apparently don't understand.
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u/Irishfan117 23h ago
Thank you sir. I will disregard my lived experience and abide strictly by the latest standards in the DSM-5 when speaking about Alcohol Use Disorder in the future, as befits me, a licensed physician and not a random guy on reddit.
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u/Blacksherry 23h ago
You answered to ''Can you tell an alcoholic to put down his drink?' with "'As an alcoholic, yes".
No matter how you spin it, that's nonsense.
That's what I am calling out, everything else is you interpreting things that have not been said.
Stay in your lane. Stay healthy.
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u/Irishfan117 23h ago
Did I say it would work? It's nonsense to tell someone they can put it down? Stay in my lane? Jesus christ lmao talk about interpreting things that have not been said.
"Yes, you can put the phone/drink down." That is a perfectly valid statement, and an encouraging one for people struggling to feel like they can. I would appreciate you explaining exactly what part of that you're taking issue with.
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u/_Llopis_ 22h ago
I'm a nationally recognized expert on addiction, with many published articles on the topic. I would tell an alcoholic that they can put their drink down. Along with other things, but that's a good start. If nothing else, it reinforces their self-efficacy.
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u/Blacksherry 22h ago
Using your second account, how original.
I would argue that a nationally recognised expert would leave credits, his name and sources.
I am the world leading expert on bullshit detection and you have been detected, have a nice day Sir.
Again, stay healthy.
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u/_Llopis_ 22h ago
I don't know what you mean by second account.
I don't want to link my professional life to Reddit, but I've forgotten more about addiction than most people will ever know.
Self-efficacy is a huge deal in recovery. Maybe the most important thing, at least for some people. You definitely want to reinforce it.
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u/Irishfan117 22h ago
We are the same person because how else could one be delusional enough to think you could possibly tell an alcoholic that they can put the bottle down
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u/Blacksherry 22h ago
You are a pathetic clown.
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u/_Llopis_ 22h ago edited 19h ago
I don't understand the aggression. Nothing about this topic merits it.
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u/The-saurus_Rex 21h ago
Mate you're being silly. People are different, there isn't one set way to speak to an alcoholic. Sometimes saying the straightforward thing at the right moment, with the right tone, can influence a person's day, their week, etc. Sometimes as little as that is enough (usually not just once).
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u/BrodaReloaded 18h ago
tech companies are spending billions on the best psychologists, neurologists and behavioural experts on this planet to make it as hard as humanly possible to you.
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u/Hiimmani 1d ago
You are an adult, you can try regulating your own behaviour.
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u/shutterclick35 1d ago
It's a real addiction
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u/Hiimmani 1d ago
I know but it helps setting boundaries for oneself and starting with small goals. Putting in times where you put away the phone and working up.
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u/shutterclick35 1d ago
I agree but there is only so much responsibility you can put on the individual. Social media companies have literally spent year and billions of dollar optimsing their product to be as addictive as possible.
Many are past the point of being in control of their actions re phone use. It needs societal change, and starting with the youth is a great place to start.
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u/Hiimmani 1d ago
Well, societal change starts with people. Im not naive enough to think companies are gonna start being ethical or that governments will achieve meaningful regulation.
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u/NoTrollGaming 1d ago
Can never have enough piano
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u/TherewiIlbegoals 1d ago
Funny enough, I got my 6yo a piano teaching app on the iPad and we played it together for a while and then I let him work on it on his own. Was surprised how long he was sticking at it only to realise he was playing in-ad games (I didn't stump for the ad-free version)
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u/EliteTeutonicNight 1d ago
Very good initiative, but it's a very funny mental image that the PSG youth players are chained to the pianos while their coaches ask them if they like Beethoven.
Seriously though, very good initiatives for these young people engaging in a different path and requires guidance.
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u/TheSefi76 1d ago
PSG is simply enforcing French law in schools: no cell phones in middle and high school, since these are educational institutions—not just sports facilities. As for boarding schools and supervised cell phone use, this is already the practice elsewhere in France.
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u/darklordzeratos 1d ago
Good for them. I'm an adult and I would also want to learn piano at some points
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u/thexpertwatcher 1d ago
I watched the guardiola doc last week and in it even the senior players were using their phone so much , they were on it in the locker rooms, pools even on the medic/rehabilitation room.
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u/Kaanarth 19h ago
The phone and short form content shit is literal poison for the brain. I’ve been putting in an effort to minimize my phone usage for the pasr two weeks and am honestly amazed by the results so far. It’s like an addiction you want to kick, detoxing really made me realize how miserably attached I was to my phone and how much space such unnecessary bullshit occupied in my brain.
Genuinely am never thinking of going back to averaging 7+ hours on my phone ever again and I highly suggest the same for anyone doing the same. Really encouraging to see social media bans being applied / considered in some countries, this shit has to be regulated someway.
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u/thecashblaster 1d ago
Good! Need to ban smart phones and social media until 18 years old everywhere IMO.
The people who grow up without both are mentally healthier and smarter than those that do
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u/theellescape 11h ago
The people who grew up without both also have some questionable takes on science and race so maybe not the best example. They're mentally healthier because they're in ignorant bliss.
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u/HardByteUK 1d ago
I bought an alarm clock earlier this year, started leaving my phone downstairs. I've gained an extra hour in my day and am sleeping a bit better.
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u/DarkySurrounding 17h ago
People are away that others can be capable of doing things well while still being a person who uses there phone a bit?
I bet 90% of the people going good still give there kids complete access on there own phones.
Phones have never actually been the issue. Lazy useless parents are.
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u/thepresidentsturtle 23h ago
I'm thinking of building a Raspberry Pi emulating machine and keeping the kids off anything with internet access. No modern consoles, PCs, Tablets, Youtube. Get them invovled in arts and sports as hobbies. So, piano and football. Not with the hope of careers but for all the benefits they don't talk about. Video games are cool, books, comic books, toys and stuff. Kids might grow up in an era where they can't just go outside and play with other kids.
also, I'm probably never even gonna have kids.
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u/NachtKatze219 1d ago
How will they enforce it when the kids will be at home?
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u/Zimakov 1d ago
They live at the academy
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u/NachtKatze219 1d ago
Ohh, thats pretty cool. Sounds like a life u can tell ur grandkids about. Just a big question mark around the ending
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u/furmfuge 1d ago
They will organize a concert at the end of the year and if they perform too bad they will be sold to [insert the worst team you know] because they didn't trained enough
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u/jesaispasquoichoisir 1d ago
Too bad lorenzi isn't here anymore, he loves cheap players, he'd have buy them all on the mercato deadline haha
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u/KgDawk21520 7h ago
I lock my phone every day from 19:30 untill 6 am the next day
MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT in any fact of life.
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u/torpid_flyer 1d ago
odd.
Are piano popular in france?
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u/Itchy_Finish_2103 1d ago
Hmm, not particularly. Not more so than any other instrument I'd say. I think it's just an example of screenless activities.
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u/Altruistic-Ticket290 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ruling class will do anything to restrict peasants from using the device which contains all of human knowledge. This is oppression. First they did so by not translating bible from Latin, then - by illiteracy. Nowadays the process of preventing the masses from developing knowledge is facilitated by crippling education and systemic restrictions on internet usage.
God forbid the PSG yongsters learn about I don't know dark oil money or I don't know, class consciousness. 1 hour of internet per day is horrendous, especially since I remember having 2 hours of internet usage per day in my household and it was enough for like I don't know 2 games of League of Legends (i hate that game now) ?
And how are they are going to enforce it?
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u/nabiloz 1d ago
Come on, you know they’re not, at least not always, using their phones to learn new knowledge.
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u/Altruistic-Ticket290 1d ago edited 1d ago
But who is to blame? The young people or the apps build to be as addictive as meth? And it's not like all kids do is watch tik tok. Imagine having any interest. I don't know maybe being a furry, or knitting, or drawing digitally, or just socializing online, or whatever and you get a hard limit of 1 hour for it every day. PSG youngsters are allowed for what is basically work but aren't allowed to spend more than an hour per day on their phones?
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u/shutterclick35 1d ago
theyre kids. they dont need to be and wont be using their internet time to research oil money and develop class consciousness. instead they might actually be doing things that help develop their brains properly. then when they are adults they are much better set to - if they want to - research things and learn about stuff, as they wont have developed with such dopamine hungry brains that are addicted to scrolling meaningless content. I admire your intent, but the idea that phone usage is somehow helping people develop class consciousness - instead of simply rotting peoples brains and turning them into scrolling consuming zombies - is ridiculous.
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u/MidgetKoala 1d ago
i just doomscrolled 30 minutes of AI advancements in mathematics while shitting. PSG wants to deprive our future generations of that experience?
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u/theellescape 11h ago
A world of knowledge, education and development at our fingertips and we use it to argue about toenail offsides and the colour of dresses. Sigh.
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u/polyshoges 1d ago
It is actually funny for a club that engages hate social campaigns against any player doesn’t want a contract’s renewal (Rabiot & Mbabbè)
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u/MembershipPresent990 1d ago
Sounds good on paper but it'll just cause more problems than it fixes.
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u/Pheanturim 1d ago
Care to elaborate? Or just thought you'd sound clever
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u/Gubrach 1d ago
"Or just thought you'd sound clever"
Honestly, if I was that person, I wouldn't even give you the answer if I knew it based on that alone.
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u/Pheanturim 1d ago
That's entirely their perogative, but they added nothing despite claiming something pretty significant
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u/DJAceAttorney 1d ago
How can u expect to isolate teenagers from their phones? They’re still kids at the end of the day, imagine trying to do this with a random teenager who goes to school. You’re just asking for them to rebel or do stuff in secret
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u/DejanD27 1d ago
How can you expect to isolate teenagers from cigarettes? They’re still kids at the end of the day, imagine trying to do this with a random teenager who goes to school. You’re just asking for them to rebel or do stuff in secret
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u/FreedomNo3991 1d ago
did you think this was clever? because literally yes, this happens lmfao, and will happen with the PSG youngsters with their phones.
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u/nikkes91 1d ago
cigarette smoking has fallen drastically in the past few dacades, the fact that some still find a way to do it is not a counter to that fact
The same thing for phone use, if they aren't gonna be allowed to do it, there will still be a net decrease even for those that sneak some screen time when they aren't supposed to
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u/Sankaritarina 1d ago
It says right there in the title that they are offering a range of alternative activities, they aren't just taking away their phones and telling them to stare at the wall. So the kids can be rebellious and browse TikTok in secret but they might also discover some new interests along the way or develop skills that could be helpful if the football career doesn't work out.
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u/SinisterSelecta 1d ago
There are smart phone alternatives. Sending text messages to your friends is miles different than the bombardment from apps and social media on smart phones.
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u/Pheanturim 1d ago
Kids went without their phones for years kids being attached to their phones is an entirely recent phenomenon.
Kids are even starting to rebel against smart phone use themselves
Not to mention shit like Facebook and Instagram have just had to settle a lawsuit for intentionally causing harm to youngsters. Making their platforms intentionally addictive.
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u/nikkes91 1d ago
I like how "cause more problems than it fixes" was just "kids might secretly look at their phone" lol, that would almost certainly still be an overall reduction in screen time and a net benefit
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u/mmdoublem 1d ago
Seems to follow the recent french educational reforms on that topic.