Improved Focus, But No Academic Gains... Changes After Banning Smartphones in Schools

No Statistically Significant Change in Test Scores
"Environmental Factors Matter More Than Smartphones for Academic Performance"

A study has found that banning smartphone use on school grounds is effective in improving students' concentration during class and their psychological well-being. However, it does not lead to improved academic achievement.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on May 4 (local time), citing a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in the United States titled "The Effects of School Smartphone Bans," that policies restricting smartphone use do not have a significant impact on test scores. The study was conducted by researchers from leading universities, including Stanford University and Duke University, who tracked approximately 40,000 schools from 2019 to 2026.

According to the report, over the past three years, about two-thirds of the 50 U.S. states have introduced legislation restricting smartphone use on school premises. In some schools, students’ smartphones are collected at the beginning of the school day. Nevertheless, overall test scores showed no statistically significant changes, and the effect was effectively negligible.

Teenagers using smartphones. Pixabay

In high schools, math scores increased slightly, but the improvement was limited to 0.024 standard deviations—a change too small to be noticeable. Conversely, in middle schools, scores fell slightly, resulting in little overall change.

The researchers analyzed that academic performance is more strongly influenced by factors such as home environment and teaching methods than by smartphone use. In fact, the active guidance of excellent teachers was found to be about five times more effective in improving academic performance than banning smartphones.

Separate from test scores, the changes observed in schools were largely positive. Initially, side effects such as an average 16% increase in suspension rates were observed after the implementation of the ban. However, teachers reported that students’ concentration during lessons improved, and over time, students’ psychological stability was also found to have improved.

Bryce Beck, Deputy Superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District in Missouri, said, "We are once again seeing children talking to each other during lunch," calling it "a very positive change."

The researchers emphasized that it is unnecessary to hastily discontinue the policy simply because of initial side effects or minimal changes in academic performance. Since restricting smartphone use contributes to improving the learning environment and interactions among students to some extent, the policy should be evaluated from a long-term perspective.

Meanwhile, a research team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill previously released a study in March showing that American adolescents in middle and high school, aged 11 to 18, spent about one-third of class time using their smartphones, based on tracking their actual smartphone use over a two-week period.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.