August 13, 2024
(Washington) — In a new policy brief, Clare Morell of the Ethics and Public Policy Center exposes the dramatic impact phones have on student academic performance and gives schools a plan of action to keep phones out of the school day.
Smartphones in schools wreak havoc on both the academic and social development of America’s children. They distract students from learning, prevent healthy socializing, and cause discipline problems in class and on campus.
Teachers are frustrated, students are suffering, and parents feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle against technology and peer pressure.
Math, reading, and science scores in the United States have continued to drop since 2012. By 2022, the situation had become dire, with scores for the lowest performing students at levels last seen in the 1970s. Studies have consistently shown that excessive smartphone use negatively impacts both short-term grades and longer-term skill development.
Is there a solution? Morell argues that it’s time to get phones out of the school day. Compelling evidence shows that school phone bans work, and she offers schools multiple options for how best to accomplish this.
Phone bans not only improve academic outcomes; they improve academic performance the most for the lowest-achieving students. If we care about reducing the academic achievement gap, we’ve got to get phones out of schools.
—EPPC Senior Policy Analyst Clare Morell
The EPPC brief is available here, along with a practical resource to help parents and schools go phone-free.
The report was authored by EPPC Senior Policy Analyst Clare Morell with assistance from EPPC Fellow Brad Littlejohn and EPPC Research Assistant Matthew Malec.
Media Inquiries:
Hunter Estes
Director of Communications
Ethics and Public Policy Center
[email protected]
