Students learn more, fight less after smartphone bans

Test scores rose modestly when an urban Florida district banned smartphones, concludes a working paper, reports Erica Meltzer on Chalkbeat. In the first year of the all-day ban, more students -- especially black males -- were suspended. By the second year, students were learning more and suspensions returned to normal. Attendance improved.

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Researchers compared schools with the highest cell phone use before the 2023 ban and those with the lowest. Test scores went up more in the high-use schools, especially for middle and high school students, and boys.

The test score increases were “meaningful but not game-changing,” said David Figlio of the University of Rochester. He thinks smartphones contribute to test score declines, but may not be the primary cause.

At Dothan Preparatory Academy in Alabama, a bell-to-bell ban on smartphones didn't change test scores significantly, Principal Charles Longshore told Meltzer. But the failure rate went way down, along with the number of fights. Students began talking to each other in the lunchroom again.

The more time children 9- to 13-years-old spend on social media the lower their scores for reading, memory and vocabulary, concludes a new study, reports Lauraine Langreo in Education Week.

The study controlled for factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other screen time use.

Social media time “might displace time for school work or reading or even sleep or rest,” said researcher Jason Nagata of the University of California at San Francisco. In addition, :rapidly switching between apps, constant notifications, and short-form videos can train the brain to seek novelty, making it harder to sustain focus on longer or more complex tasks."