Studies Reveal Smartphone Use in Schools Remains a Concern

Two newly published studies shed further light on the topic, which may provide educators with more data on public opinion about smartphone bans in schools and just how much time students are on their smartphones. Currently, 31 U.S. states have some type of smartphone ban policy in schools.

In a Research Letter published in JAMA Pediatrics, Senior Author Lauren Hale, PhD, Professor in the Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine in the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM), and in the Program of Public Health at Stony Brook University, and her colleagues highlight an international survey of parents on the topic of smartphone use in schools.

The survey pooled the opinions of more than 35,000 adults in 35 countries. The results showed that more than 75 percent of the respondents support smartphone bans in schools. This includes many parents. Approximately 71 percent of parents in the U.S. who responded to the survey support smartphone bans in schools.

Worldwide, parents were more supportive of a ban on smartphones in schools than non-parents.

Hale and co-authors point out that the survey results also showed that social media was associated with a decreased likelihood of supporting bans, but this was counterbalanced by the perception of spending too much time online.

"Studies of the impact of school smartphone bans on student well-being and performance are needed," conclude the authors, "including how those findings may impact parental attitudes and how local cultures and norms might impact their effectiveness."

In another Research Letter, published in JAMA, a study of 640 adolescents (mean age of 15 years), found that U.S. adolescents, on average, spent 1.2 hours using smartphone during school hours. Social media use accounted for most of that time.

Few studies have objectively examined smartphone app usage during school. This study addressed the app use by adolescents by way of passive sensing technology in a diverse sample of adolescents.

The main findings build upon a previous smaller study that also objectively measured smartphone use, which had similar findings. For more on that study, see this press release.

"These most recent studies suggest that the time students spend looking at a mobile device during school could be displacing valuable social and learning experiences for them," explains Hale, a co-author on both papers.

Of note is that this larger study observed disparities in school smartphone use. Black participants, compared to White participants and those from low-income households, engaged with smartphones for 12 to 20 minutes more daily during school hours.

Hale and co-authors in the JAMA piece suggest that "because school smartphone regulations are rapidly changing, future periodic analyses are necessary to understand the evolving relationships between these policies, adolescent smartphone use, and long-term academic outcomes."

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