At the beginning of the meeting in Amsterdam, students gave themselves rules on how to work together during this week in accordance with the topic of the meeting.
Starting out by looking at table manners which they have known since a young age, they realized that those rules are there to make both children and everyone else focus on the topic (i.e. food and eating).
In addition, you have to follow rules of politeness (which of course are valid everywhere but have a particular focus when it comes to behaviour at, for example, the family dinner table).
Accordingly, when working inside a classroom, etiquette should dictate that you focus on the work at hand (and not the phone in your hand). Students agreed to using their phones during the meeting only when this was required for work on the project, and to leave it inside their bags at all other times. While the use of phones inside classrooms has become increasingly normal, making use of the advantages of having all available information at one’s fingertips, phones most of the time distract students from the actual topic (e.g. by reading and sending solely social messages or by browsing the internet). A majority of activities during the meeting had been planned in such a way, that the use of the internet and mobile phones would not become necessary.