Cutting student phone use at schools is met by out of school use

 Study Finds - School phone bans reduce in-school phone use by about 40 minutes per day, but students make up this time outside of school hours, resulting in no difference in total daily screen time (4-6 hours) between schools with restrictive versus permissive policies.

The first worldwide study of its kind found no significant differences in mental wellbeing, anxiety, depression, sleep, physical activity, or academic performance between students at schools that ban phones and those that don’t. More time spent on phones and social media was consistently linked to worse mental health outcomes and poorer sleep, physical activity, and classroom behavior – suggesting the need for comprehensive solutions that address phone use both in and out of school