Speaking to an audience of high school students on Thursday, Macron said that screens and social media are: "Time stolen from personal development, time when you’re not doing any sport or reading."
He called on young people to take one day a month as a day disconnected from screens in order to "rediscover the vitality of real life".
The president's proposal is for a voluntary day of disconnection, but the French government is pushing ahead with a ban on social media for under 15s.
The bill has already been passed in the Assemblée nationale and is now heading to the Senate for a reading - the plan is for the legislation to be passed in time for the start of the new school year in September.
France is among 13 European countries - Germany, Austria, Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czechia and Slovenia - who are either considering or in the process of implementing restrictions on access to social media for young people.
France already has a legal 'right to disconnect' for French workers - bosses cannot expect their employees to log on or reply to work-related messages out of hours.
READ ALSO: Right to disconnect: Is it illegal for French bosses to contact workers out-of-hours?✎
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