The growing movement to ban smartphones in schools

The growing movement to ban smartphones in schools


Calls for banning smartphones in classrooms and schools have intensified, particularly in Europe. This movement is driven by concerns about student wellbeing and the impact of technology on learning outcomes. Educators complain that smartphones are a major source of distraction, negatively impacting students’ ability to concentrate on lessons. Incoming notifications, or even the mere proximity of a mobile device, can be a distraction resulting in students losing their attention from the task at hand. A study found that it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus on what they were learning after engaging in a non-academic activity. 

Smartphones are not the only issue. Negative effects are also reported in students of the use of personal computers for non-academic activities during class, such as internet browsing, and amongst their peers who are in view of the screen.   

 

As part of the background research for the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, 211 education systems’ normative and policy frameworks on technology in education were mapped in the PEER country profiles. The analysis showed that 24% of countries had implemented cellphone bans through a law or policy at the time of the report’s launch in July 2023. More than one year later, the GEM Report has updated the analysis and found that the number has risen to 31%, while several countries are still discussing possible bans at national level.

To ban or not to ban: What does the evidence say?

The basic premise of the 2023 GEM Report was that technology should be utilized in schools only when it enhances learning. The same applies for smartphones in classrooms. The report shows that some technology can support some learning in some contexts, but not when it is over-used or inappropriately used. One study looking at pre-primary through to higher education in 14 countries found that it distracted students from learning. Removing smartphones from schools in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom was found to improve learning outcomes, according to a study cited in the report, especially for students that were not performing as well as their peers.

Concerns over privacy and student wellbeing have prompted parents, teachers, and government officials to advocate for stricter regulations on technology use among children. The GEM Report’s gender edition highlighted how social media can negatively affect mental health while reinforcing harmful gender norms. It found that girls are twice as likely as boys to suffer from eating disorders exacerbated by social media usage. Facebook’s own research revealed that 32% of teenage girls felt worse about their bodies after using Instagram. The report further noted alarming trends related to TikTok’s algorithm, which targets teenagers with body image content every 39 seconds and promotes content related to eating disorders every eight minutes. In response to these findings, many universities in the United States have explicitly banned TikTok from their campuses.

The impact of social media on emotional wellbeing is particularly pronounced among girls. Increased interaction with social media at age 10 has been linked to worsening socioemotional difficulties as they grow older—a trend not observed among boys. Emotional wellbeing is crucial for academic success; a longitudinal study from England found that children with better emotional health made more progress in primary school and were more engaged during secondary education.

Countries are taking different approaches to this issue

The approach to cellphone bans varies widely from one country to another. In France, for instance, cellphones are completely banned in schools due to their potential to distract students, with exceptions made for individuals with disabilities. Bangladesh teachers and students have been banned from bringing mobile phones in classrooms, while Uzbekistan mandates that students turn off their devices before lessons commence and are only allowed to use their phones to communicate with parents or legal guardians in cases of justified and urgent need. In Scotland (United Kingdom) and the Netherlands, cellphone use is restricted to educational purposes only. In November 2023, the Dutch government announced plans to extend the ban on mobile phones in classrooms to include primary and special schools, with exceptions being made for medical needs or educational purposes.

Spain recently took significant steps by unanimously approving a recommendation to ban cellphones in primary schools and limit their use in secondary schools to strictly pedagogical or medical needs. Following this, the Spanish Data Protection Agency issued an alert advising against personal mobile and tablet use for educational purposes. Sweden has implemented a ban on cellphones for students in grades 1-9 during school hours, including breaks. This initiative aims to reduce distractions and foster better learning. The schools minister also announced that digital devices would be replaced with printed books. In England (United Kingdom), after a parliamentary inquiry, to which to the GEM Report also contributed, the Department of Education issued guidance encouraging headteachers to prohibit cellphone use throughout the school day as part of a broader effort to enhance student engagement. The guidance draws attention to the negative effects of phones on classroom behavior and cyber-bullying and recommends phone collection before lessons or secure storage.

Partial or total restrictions on cellphone use can also be found in Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Portugal, Switzerland, and Türkiye. These regulations are often accompanied by guidelines on screen time and policies aimed at limiting social media use within educational settings. 

Overall, the new analysis from the GEM Report team found that more than 60 countries now ban smartphones in classrooms by law or policy. Algeria, Cambodia, Chile, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Niue and the Russian Federation are some of the countries to have introduced bans. Bans are also introduced in federal countries. In the United States there is a growing number of states banning phones in schools. The same applies for Brazil, Canada and India. In 16 countries, discussions to introduce bans are underway.

The analysis also found that some countries are discussing modifying or extending existing bans as in France where trial digital breaks (expérimentation de la pause numérique) in some secondary schools.

The relentless pace of technological development has led to renewed hesitation about the use of devices in classrooms, both from a learning, and from a health perspective. The calls are not only coming from policy makers, but also from teachers, parents and youth themselves.  Students and youth joined a global consultation and voiced their opinions on the issue in the 2024 GEM Youth Report calling for technology to be on their terms and their terms only.

What do you think? Share your views in the comment section of this blog.



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