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Banning phones in schools is not a “silver bullet” to improved student wellbeing or better academic performance, a new UK study has found.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham, in central England, did establish longer times on phones and social media by children resulted in poorer classroom results, a lack of exercise, anxiety and bad sleeping patterns.
But the study suggests that the impact is small and that schools banning recreational phone use didn’t lead to a meaningful reduction in the overall time spent using them.
All Australian state schools and many Catholic and independent schools ban the use of mobile phones by students.
The UK study is the first in the world to examine school phone regulations against benchmarks of student health and educational performance.
It was based on data about smartphone and social media usage from 30 schools and 1227 students across England.
Among the schools that took part in the study, 20 had restrictive phone policies.
Others permitted student phone use at certain times, such as breaks, lunch or in certain zones.
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The researchers say bans should be part of a wider policy for reducing children’s phone time.
“Our study suggests that school policies are not the silver bullet for preventing the detrimental impacts of smartphone and social media use,” Miranda Pallan, from the University of Birmingham, and a senior author of the study, said.
“The paper shows that restrictive policies on recreational phone use in schools do not lead to better outcomes among students, but that addressing overall phone use should be a priority for improving health and wellbeing among adolescents.”
Results of the study were published this week in the journal Lancet Regional Health Europe.