home.social

#smartphoneban — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #smartphoneban, aggregated by home.social.

fetched live
  1. DATE: July 12, 2026 at 06:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: School smartphone bans save time but don’t improve student mental health, study finds

    URL: psypost.org/school-smartphone-

    Restricting smartphone use in secondary schools may save staff time and money, but it does not appear to meaningfully improve pupils’ quality of life or mental well-being, according to a study published in BMJ Mental Health.

    Schools around the world are increasingly restricting phone use. The hope is that limiting access to smartphones during the school day will reduce distractions, improve behavior, protect students from online harms, and support learning. Some schools ban phones from the premises, while others require students to keep them switched off in bags, lockers, or pouches.

    However, the evidence behind these policies remains mixed. Previous research has suggested that restrictive policies may reduce phone and social media use during school hours. However, broader benefits for mental health, physical activity, sleep, and academic outcomes have been harder to demonstrate.

    To investigate this, a team led by Samuel J. Perry of the University of Birmingham conducted an economic evaluation of school smartphone policies in England. The study included 815 students aged 12 to 15 from 20 secondary schools in the main complete-case analysis. Thirteen schools had restrictive policies, meaning recreational phone use was not permitted during the school day, while seven had permissive policies, meaning recreational use was allowed at certain times or in certain places.

    The researchers estimated costs from the school’s perspective. This meant they focused mainly on staff time spent implementing and enforcing phone rules, such as monitoring behavior, recording incidents, contacting parents, applying sanctions, and speaking with pupils. They then converted this time into costs using staff salary estimates.

    Pupil outcomes were measured using two health economics measures. One was quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), which combine quality and length of life. The other was mental well-being adjusted life years (MWALYs), which focus specifically on mental well-being.

    The findings were striking in two ways. First, there was little difference in pupil outcomes. Compared with permissive schools, restrictive schools had a very small estimated gain in QALYs and a very small estimated loss in MWALYs. Both estimates were uncertain and close to zero, meaning the study did not provide strong evidence that restrictive policies improved or harmed pupil well-being.

    Second, both types of schools spent a large amount of staff time managing phones. In restrictive schools, this amounted to about 3.1 full-time staff equivalents across a school year. In permissive schools, it was about 3.3 full-time staff equivalents. The researchers noted that while staff in restrictive schools appeared to spend less time monitoring phone-related activities and completing administrative duties, they spent more time applying behavioral sanctions for breaches of the phone policy, such as detentions and parent communication.

    Restrictive policies were estimated to cost £94 less per pupil per school year, though this estimate was also uncertain. At commonly used cost-effectiveness thresholds, the researchers estimated that restrictive policies had about a 90% probability of being cost-effective when QALYs were used as the outcome. The probability was closer to 50-60% when using MWALYs.

    “There are unlikely to be differences in pupils’ mental health and well-being outcomes in adolescents attending schools with a restrictive or permissive smartphone policy,” Perry and colleagues summarized. “Restrictive phone policies could offer small economic benefits to schools by reducing the amount of time school staff spend managing pupil phone-related behaviors.”

    Some caveats are to be noted. For instance, the study was observational, meaning it did not track schools before and after they enacted restrictive policies, so it cannot prove that the policies caused the cost differences. Also, cost estimates relied heavily on reports from one senior staff member per school, which may not perfectly capture what staff actually do day-to-day. Finally, outcome data were limited to one or two assessment periods, which were assumed to approximate the school year, challenging the internal validity of the study.

    The study, “Health economics analysis of restrictive school smartphone policies in secondary schools in England (SMART Schools),” was authored by Samuel J. Perry, Victoria A. Goodyear, Miranda Pallan, Peymane Adab, Sally Fenton, Maria Michail, Paul Patterson, Amie Randhawa, Alice J. Sitch, Matthew Wade, and Hareth Al-Janabi.

    URL: psypost.org/school-smartphone-

    -------------------------------------------------

    Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: clinicians-exchange.org

    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SchoolSmartphones #EducationPolicy #MentalHealth #MWALYs #QALYs #SmartphoneBan #StudentWellbeing #CostEffectiveness #SecondarySchools #BMJMentalHealth

  2. Student #ReadingAbility Spikes After Removing Tech From Class

    "Remove all the #distractions and we can get our kids back."

    By Frank Landymore
    Published Jun 15, 2026

    "Would you believe it: a teacher and her students say their reading ability soared after banning tech in the classroom.

    "Maureen Mulvaney, an AP Literature and English teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis, started the low tech experiment last year after becoming frustrated with plagiarism, distracted students, and plunging literacy rates.

    "And so, with the enthusiastic support of parents, she banned phones and laptops, requiring all coursework to be done with pencil and paper. The turnaround was quick and resounding, and despite some initial resistance from students, they quickly fell in love with the old, analog ways of doing things.

    "In September, before the experiment started, just 46 percent of Mulvaney’s students said they felt confident about their reading ability. By February, that share shot up to 95 percent.

    " 'We’re having a lot of trouble in education and I think what my kids told us was that there is a solution and the solution is to go #LowTech. Go back to the old ways of doing things,' Mulvaney told local TV news station KARE 11. 'Remove all the distractions and we can get our kids back.'

    "Mulvaney let her students ease into a tech free environment. First, they started with just ten minutes of silent reading and writing by hand. Still, the first day was 'rough,' she wrote in an essay in The Minnesota Star Tribune. Most students quit after just half a page of longhand composition.

    " 'I told the kids this is like lifting weights,' she told KARE 11. 'You don’t go in and you don’t start with 80 pounds.' "

    Read more:
    futurism.com/future-society/st

    #LudditeClub #NoTech #NoPhones #NoAI #Reading #Writing #Humans
    #Smartphones are #DumbingUsDown #SolarPunkSunday #Handwriting #NeoLuddites #SmartphoneBan #Longhand

  3. Student #ReadingAbility Spikes After Removing Tech From Class

    "Remove all the #distractions and we can get our kids back."

    By Frank Landymore
    Published Jun 15, 2026

    "Would you believe it: a teacher and her students say their reading ability soared after banning tech in the classroom.

    "Maureen Mulvaney, an AP Literature and English teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis, started the low tech experiment last year after becoming frustrated with plagiarism, distracted students, and plunging literacy rates.

    "And so, with the enthusiastic support of parents, she banned phones and laptops, requiring all coursework to be done with pencil and paper. The turnaround was quick and resounding, and despite some initial resistance from students, they quickly fell in love with the old, analog ways of doing things.

    "In September, before the experiment started, just 46 percent of Mulvaney’s students said they felt confident about their reading ability. By February, that share shot up to 95 percent.

    " 'We’re having a lot of trouble in education and I think what my kids told us was that there is a solution and the solution is to go #LowTech. Go back to the old ways of doing things,' Mulvaney told local TV news station KARE 11. 'Remove all the distractions and we can get our kids back.'

    "Mulvaney let her students ease into a tech free environment. First, they started with just ten minutes of silent reading and writing by hand. Still, the first day was 'rough,' she wrote in an essay in The Minnesota Star Tribune. Most students quit after just half a page of longhand composition.

    " 'I told the kids this is like lifting weights,' she told KARE 11. 'You don’t go in and you don’t start with 80 pounds.' "

    Read more:
    futurism.com/future-society/st

    #LudditeClub #NoTech #NoPhones #NoAI #Reading #Writing #Humans
    #Smartphones are #DumbingUsDown #SolarPunkSunday #Handwriting #NeoLuddites #SmartphoneBan #Longhand

  4. Student #ReadingAbility Spikes After Removing Tech From Class

    "Remove all the #distractions and we can get our kids back."

    By Frank Landymore
    Published Jun 15, 2026

    "Would you believe it: a teacher and her students say their reading ability soared after banning tech in the classroom.

    "Maureen Mulvaney, an AP Literature and English teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis, started the low tech experiment last year after becoming frustrated with plagiarism, distracted students, and plunging literacy rates.

    "And so, with the enthusiastic support of parents, she banned phones and laptops, requiring all coursework to be done with pencil and paper. The turnaround was quick and resounding, and despite some initial resistance from students, they quickly fell in love with the old, analog ways of doing things.

    "In September, before the experiment started, just 46 percent of Mulvaney’s students said they felt confident about their reading ability. By February, that share shot up to 95 percent.

    " 'We’re having a lot of trouble in education and I think what my kids told us was that there is a solution and the solution is to go #LowTech. Go back to the old ways of doing things,' Mulvaney told local TV news station KARE 11. 'Remove all the distractions and we can get our kids back.'

    "Mulvaney let her students ease into a tech free environment. First, they started with just ten minutes of silent reading and writing by hand. Still, the first day was 'rough,' she wrote in an essay in The Minnesota Star Tribune. Most students quit after just half a page of longhand composition.

    " 'I told the kids this is like lifting weights,' she told KARE 11. 'You don’t go in and you don’t start with 80 pounds.' "

    Read more:
    futurism.com/future-society/st

    #LudditeClub #NoTech #NoPhones #NoAI #Reading #Writing #Humans
    #Smartphones are #DumbingUsDown #SolarPunkSunday #Handwriting #NeoLuddites #SmartphoneBan #Longhand

  5. Student #ReadingAbility Spikes After Removing Tech From Class

    "Remove all the #distractions and we can get our kids back."

    By Frank Landymore
    Published Jun 15, 2026

    "Would you believe it: a teacher and her students say their reading ability soared after banning tech in the classroom.

    "Maureen Mulvaney, an AP Literature and English teacher at Washburn High School in Minneapolis, started the low tech experiment last year after becoming frustrated with plagiarism, distracted students, and plunging literacy rates.

    "And so, with the enthusiastic support of parents, she banned phones and laptops, requiring all coursework to be done with pencil and paper. The turnaround was quick and resounding, and despite some initial resistance from students, they quickly fell in love with the old, analog ways of doing things.

    "In September, before the experiment started, just 46 percent of Mulvaney’s students said they felt confident about their reading ability. By February, that share shot up to 95 percent.

    " 'We’re having a lot of trouble in education and I think what my kids told us was that there is a solution and the solution is to go #LowTech. Go back to the old ways of doing things,' Mulvaney told local TV news station KARE 11. 'Remove all the distractions and we can get our kids back.'

    "Mulvaney let her students ease into a tech free environment. First, they started with just ten minutes of silent reading and writing by hand. Still, the first day was 'rough,' she wrote in an essay in The Minnesota Star Tribune. Most students quit after just half a page of longhand composition.

    " 'I told the kids this is like lifting weights,' she told KARE 11. 'You don’t go in and you don’t start with 80 pounds.' "

    Read more:
    futurism.com/future-society/st

    #LudditeClub #NoTech #NoPhones #NoAI #Reading #Writing #Humans
    #Smartphones are #DumbingUsDown #SolarPunkSunday #Handwriting #NeoLuddites #SmartphoneBan #Longhand

  6. Oxford Hills students look back at a full year under a cellphone ban

    Story by Jacob Murphy
    April 14, 2026

    Excerpt: " 'It's gotten easier. You get used to it. It's just like a new habit,' said Joseph Bobrowski, a sophomore at the school.

    "Inside a world history class, students are working on a group project based on the Industrial Revolution. There were no phones in sight, which would have been unusual to see a year ago.

    " 'Everyone would be on their phones, be it texting, gaming, but now there's a lot of people actually talking and laughing,' said Caelynn St. Laurent, a sophomore.

    " 'It's kind of reminiscent of pre-cellphone, in terms of kids interacting with each other and just being kids, which is great,' said school principal Paul Bickford.

    "It follows the logic of a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The report tracks schools that use lockable pouches for phones, a system that was implemented at Portland High School."

    Read more:
    msn.com/en-us/public-safety-an

    #SmartphoneBan #LetKidsBeKids #BellToBell #TeenMentalHealth #MainePol #CellPhoneBans #PutThePhoneDown #SmartPhoneAddiction #TooMuchScreenTime #TechAddiction #LetKidsBeKids

  7. Oxford Hills students look back at a full year under a cellphone ban

    Story by Jacob Murphy
    April 14, 2026

    Excerpt: " 'It's gotten easier. You get used to it. It's just like a new habit,' said Joseph Bobrowski, a sophomore at the school.

    "Inside a world history class, students are working on a group project based on the Industrial Revolution. There were no phones in sight, which would have been unusual to see a year ago.

    " 'Everyone would be on their phones, be it texting, gaming, but now there's a lot of people actually talking and laughing,' said Caelynn St. Laurent, a sophomore.

    " 'It's kind of reminiscent of pre-cellphone, in terms of kids interacting with each other and just being kids, which is great,' said school principal Paul Bickford.

    "It follows the logic of a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The report tracks schools that use lockable pouches for phones, a system that was implemented at Portland High School."

    Read more:
    msn.com/en-us/public-safety-an

    #SmartphoneBan #LetKidsBeKids #BellToBell #TeenMentalHealth #MainePol #CellPhoneBans #PutThePhoneDown #SmartPhoneAddiction #TooMuchScreenTime #TechAddiction #LetKidsBeKids

  8. Oxford Hills students look back at a full year under a cellphone ban

    Story by Jacob Murphy
    April 14, 2026

    Excerpt: " 'It's gotten easier. You get used to it. It's just like a new habit,' said Joseph Bobrowski, a sophomore at the school.

    "Inside a world history class, students are working on a group project based on the Industrial Revolution. There were no phones in sight, which would have been unusual to see a year ago.

    " 'Everyone would be on their phones, be it texting, gaming, but now there's a lot of people actually talking and laughing,' said Caelynn St. Laurent, a sophomore.

    " 'It's kind of reminiscent of pre-cellphone, in terms of kids interacting with each other and just being kids, which is great,' said school principal Paul Bickford.

    "It follows the logic of a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The report tracks schools that use lockable pouches for phones, a system that was implemented at Portland High School."

    Read more:
    msn.com/en-us/public-safety-an

    #SmartphoneBan #LetKidsBeKids #BellToBell #TeenMentalHealth #MainePol #CellPhoneBans #PutThePhoneDown #SmartPhoneAddiction #TooMuchScreenTime #TechAddiction #LetKidsBeKids

  9. Oxford Hills students look back at a full year under a cellphone ban

    Story by Jacob Murphy
    April 14, 2026

    Excerpt: " 'It's gotten easier. You get used to it. It's just like a new habit,' said Joseph Bobrowski, a sophomore at the school.

    "Inside a world history class, students are working on a group project based on the Industrial Revolution. There were no phones in sight, which would have been unusual to see a year ago.

    " 'Everyone would be on their phones, be it texting, gaming, but now there's a lot of people actually talking and laughing,' said Caelynn St. Laurent, a sophomore.

    " 'It's kind of reminiscent of pre-cellphone, in terms of kids interacting with each other and just being kids, which is great,' said school principal Paul Bickford.

    "It follows the logic of a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The report tracks schools that use lockable pouches for phones, a system that was implemented at Portland High School."

    Read more:
    msn.com/en-us/public-safety-an

    #SmartphoneBan #LetKidsBeKids #BellToBell #TeenMentalHealth #MainePol #CellPhoneBans #PutThePhoneDown #SmartPhoneAddiction #TooMuchScreenTime #TechAddiction #LetKidsBeKids

  10. A shame that all the questions thrown to the Conservative spokesperson on #R4today about a #SmartphoneBan were on the technical aspects of the policy, and not “How much investment would you put into real-world youth services and leisure services to ensure young people had non-virtual spaces to mix and socialise?”.

  11. A shame that all the questions thrown to the Conservative spokesperson on #R4today about a #SmartphoneBan were on the technical aspects of the policy, and not “How much investment would you put into real-world youth services and leisure services to ensure young people had non-virtual spaces to mix and socialise?”.

  12. A shame that all the questions thrown to the Conservative spokesperson on #R4today about a #SmartphoneBan were on the technical aspects of the policy, and not “How much investment would you put into real-world youth services and leisure services to ensure young people had non-virtual spaces to mix and socialise?”.

  13. A shame that all the questions thrown to the Conservative spokesperson on #R4today about a #SmartphoneBan were on the technical aspects of the policy, and not “How much investment would you put into real-world youth services and leisure services to ensure young people had non-virtual spaces to mix and socialise?”.

  14. From burner phones to decks of cards: NYC teens are adjusting to the smartphone ban - Gothamist

    gothamist.com/news/from-burner

    A week into the ban on internet-enabled devices, students say they are making it work.

  15. Silicon Valley has known this for years and not only didn't care, actively promoted it. Look at the state of America now for an example of where we are heading. If only we had a PM who would actually stand up to America....

    theguardian.com/technology/202

    #UKPOL #UKPolitics #Smartphones #SiliconValley #SmartphoneBan

  16. Silicon Valley has known this for years and not only didn't care, actively promoted it. Look at the state of America now for an example of where we are heading. If only we had a PM who would actually stand up to America....

    theguardian.com/technology/202

    #UKPOL #UKPolitics #Smartphones #SiliconValley #SmartphoneBan

  17. Silicon Valley has known this for years and not only didn't care, actively promoted it. Look at the state of America now for an example of where we are heading. If only we had a PM who would actually stand up to America....

    theguardian.com/technology/202

    #UKPOL #UKPolitics #Smartphones #SiliconValley #SmartphoneBan

  18. Silicon Valley has known this for years and not only didn't care, actively promoted it. Look at the state of America now for an example of where we are heading. If only we had a PM who would actually stand up to America....

    theguardian.com/technology/202

    #UKPOL #UKPolitics #Smartphones #SiliconValley #SmartphoneBan

  19. 🚀 #Finland bravely ventures where parents fear to tread: banning smartphones in #schools to finally stop Generation Z from TikToking their way through algebra! 📱🤦‍♂️ Meanwhile, Finnish students start studying the ancient art of... paying attention. 😂 #BackToTheStoneAge
    yle.fi/a/74-20158886 #SmartphoneBan #GenerationZ #PayingAttention #TikTok #HackerNews #ngated

  20. 🚀 #Finland bravely ventures where parents fear to tread: banning smartphones in #schools to finally stop Generation Z from TikToking their way through algebra! 📱🤦‍♂️ Meanwhile, Finnish students start studying the ancient art of... paying attention. 😂 #BackToTheStoneAge
    yle.fi/a/74-20158886 #SmartphoneBan #GenerationZ #PayingAttention #TikTok #HackerNews #ngated

  21. 🚀 #Finland bravely ventures where parents fear to tread: banning smartphones in #schools to finally stop Generation Z from TikToking their way through algebra! 📱🤦‍♂️ Meanwhile, Finnish students start studying the ancient art of... paying attention. 😂 #BackToTheStoneAge
    yle.fi/a/74-20158886 #SmartphoneBan #GenerationZ #PayingAttention #TikTok #HackerNews #ngated

  22. 🚀 #Finland bravely ventures where parents fear to tread: banning smartphones in #schools to finally stop Generation Z from TikToking their way through algebra! 📱🤦‍♂️ Meanwhile, Finnish students start studying the ancient art of... paying attention. 😂 #BackToTheStoneAge
    yle.fi/a/74-20158886 #SmartphoneBan #GenerationZ #PayingAttention #TikTok #HackerNews #ngated

  23. Trouble is when you're "making sure that our children are educated about things like misogyny, healthy relationships" is the Parents relationships might be exposed as unhealthy, and those parents don't want that so they'll be crying out for Smartphones to be banned instead.

    #UKPOL #UKpolitics #Empathy #Wokeness #Misogyny #SmartphoneBan

  24. Trouble is when you're "making sure that our children are educated about things like misogyny, healthy relationships" is the Parents relationships might be exposed as unhealthy, and those parents don't want that so they'll be crying out for Smartphones to be banned instead.

    #UKPOL #UKpolitics #Empathy #Wokeness #Misogyny #SmartphoneBan

  25. Trouble is when you're "making sure that our children are educated about things like misogyny, healthy relationships" is the Parents relationships might be exposed as unhealthy, and those parents don't want that so they'll be crying out for Smartphones to be banned instead.

    #UKPOL #UKpolitics #Empathy #Wokeness #Misogyny #SmartphoneBan

  26. Trouble is when you're "making sure that our children are educated about things like misogyny, healthy relationships" is the Parents relationships might be exposed as unhealthy, and those parents don't want that so they'll be crying out for Smartphones to be banned instead.

    #UKPOL #UKpolitics #Empathy #Wokeness #Misogyny #SmartphoneBan

  27. A 🧵 #1
    I have permission to post this here. Unlike where this was originally shared, I think people will understand and connect with the message.

    "This discussion around the new cell phone ban is proof to me that the people of this province don't care about learning. I haven't seen anyone else call this what is an admission from the government that are schools aren't working.

    #onted #onpoli #education #school #children #technology #technologyban #phoneban #smartphone #smartphoneban

  28. A 🧵 #1
    I have permission to post this here. Unlike where this was originally shared, I think people will understand and connect with the message.

    "This discussion around the new cell phone ban is proof to me that the people of this province don't care about learning. I haven't seen anyone else call this what is an admission from the government that are schools aren't working.

    #onted #onpoli #education #school #children #technology #technologyban #phoneban #smartphone #smartphoneban

  29. A 🧵 #1
    I have permission to post this here. Unlike where this was originally shared, I think people will understand and connect with the message.

    "This discussion around the new cell phone ban is proof to me that the people of this province don't care about learning. I haven't seen anyone else call this what is an admission from the government that are schools aren't working.

    #onted #onpoli #education #school #children #technology #technologyban #phoneban #smartphone #smartphoneban

  30. A 🧵 #1
    I have permission to post this here. Unlike where this was originally shared, I think people will understand and connect with the message.

    "This discussion around the new cell phone ban is proof to me that the people of this province don't care about learning. I haven't seen anyone else call this what is an admission from the government that are schools aren't working.

    #onted #onpoli #education #school #children #technology #technologyban #phoneban #smartphone #smartphoneban