In the French department of Haute-Savoie, students have discovered methods to bypass the "Portable en pause" phone pouches introduced by local schools to limit mobile phone use during class time. These pouches, which use a magnetic lock, are designed to keep phones secure until the end of the school day, when they can be retrieved using a designated unlocking base. The initiative, launched at the start of the academic year, has seen the distribution of 50,000 pouches and 600 unlocking bases across both public and private schools, at a total cost of 750,000 euros. Despite the intention to encourage focus in the classroom, students have taken to social media to share tips on how to unlock the pouches without breaking them. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become hubs for these tutorials, with one TikTok video garnering over 135,000 likes. Comments on these videos range from admiration for the simplicity of the methods to criticism of the program’s cost, suggesting that the initiative may not be achieving its intended goals. The use of these pouches follows a 2018 French law that banned mobile phone use in middle schools, which was recently extended to high schools for the current academic year. The law aims to reduce distractions and promote better concentration among students, but the emergence of workarounds highlights the ongoing challenge of enforcing such policies effectively. The situation in Haute-Savoie reflects a broader debate about the role of technology in education and the practicality of enforcing digital restrictions. While the government and school authorities hope that the pouches will help students focus on their studies, the ingenuity of students in circumventing the system raises questions about the long-term effectiveness of such measures.