A University of Birmingham study found that school phone bans are not enough to improve students’ health and academic performance.
“There is no evidence that restrictive school policies are associated with overall phone and social media use or better mental well-being in adolescents,” the researchers wrote.
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Dr. Victoria Goodyear, the study’s lead author, told the BBC that the study isn’t “against” smartphone bans in schools.
“What we’re suggesting is that those bans in isolation are not enough to tackle the negative impacts,” she added.
The first-ever study on school phone bans
Banning phones in schools is not linked to pupils getting higher grades or having better mental wellbeing, the first study of its kind suggests.
Dr Victoria Goodyear told #BBCBreakfast classroom behaviour or how long they spend on their phones overall also seems to be no… pic.twitter.com/wYauao62wA
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) February 5, 2025
The BBC says Goodyear’s study is the first in the world to examine school phone rules.
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It compared 1,227 students from 30 secondary schools and their different smartphone rules.
Then, the researchers used the internationally recognized Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scales to determine participants’ well-being.
They examined the students’ anxiety and depression levels.
Also, the study asked teachers whether or not their students’ performance in English and Math became better.
As a result, the study discovered that school phone bans didn’t improve health, well-being and classroom concentration.
However, it says increased screen time affects mental health, classroom behavior, physical activity and sleep cycles.
The study states:
“Our data suggest that interventions to reduce phone/social media time to positively influence adolescent mental well-being are plausible…”
“… but that both in-school and outside-of-school use should be considered in tandem.”
Goodyear reiterated the study’s findings with the BBC:
“What we’re suggesting is that those bans in isolation are not enough to tackle the negative impact.”
“We need to do more than just ban phones in schools.”
Joe Ryrie, the director of the campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood, reacted to the study in BBC Radio 4’s Today program:
“The report concludes that this issue is much bigger than removing smartphones from schools.”
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“This is a critical societal issue that requires urgent attention from parents, schools and the government.”
