School phone bans or not, digital lives of students affect the school day

Students who attend schools with smartphone bans report missing sleep to make up for ‘lost time’ on their phones but benefit from more face-to-face socialising in the school day, as a new UK study reveals a mixed picture of how phones affect secondary school students’ experiences.

In the latest study from the SMART Schools project published in Social Sciences and Medicine, a team of academics from the University of Birmingham conducted in-depth research with seven schools to identify ways in which smartphone policies influence wellbeing among students.

The findings of the study, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, are taken from in-depth interviews with 177 participants across three schools with restrictive policies (bans) and four with permissive policies on the use of smartphones. The resulting findings are the largest UK study to date that considers the voices of school staff, parents, and students, and compares how restrictive and permissive policies inform a range of behaviours and outcomes inside and outside of the school day.

The key findings from the study include:

• The different school phone policies have a mixture of perceived benefits and negative consequences for students, parents and teachers.
• Both phone policy types have benefits, such as increased in-person interactions in restrictive schools, or more self-regulation of phone time in permissive schools.
• There are negative consequences for both policies: in restrictive schools, students reported compensating for a lack of phone access during the school day that displaces other activities such as sleep or physical activity; in permissive schools, issues escalated due to students’ ability to take mugshots, which are pictures of other students or staff without permission.
• Students’ relationship with their phones is 24/7 regardless of policy with issues playing out on phones outside of school blurring into the school day, such as bullying and conflicts.

Teachers and students in schools with restrictive policies report that lack of access to phones during the school day didn’t stop problematic behaviours disrupting the school day including bullying which stemmed from phone use. In some cases, escalating conflicts that began on social media or in group chats outside of school “blow up” in a face-to-face interactions in school.

Professor Victoria Goodyear from the University of Birmingham and chief investigator of the SMART Schools study said: “There are advantages and disadvantages of introducing restrictive and permissive policies for pupil wellbeing. School phone policies influence interactions, learning, health behaviours and emotional wellbeing inside and outside of school. One key finding that students, parents and school staff agreed on was that restrictive phone policies don’t make the wider challenges of young people’s digital lives go away.

“This new study explains why other studies reporting on school smartphone restrictions show mixed results, or no differences in wellbeing outcomes between permissive and restrictive schools. It seems that restrictive policies may push phone use out of school. We heard from students who admitted they have not done homework, turned down opportunities to engage in physical activity, and lost sleep due to compensatory use on their phones.

“The overall picture is – messy. Teachers largely told our team that restrictive policies were beneficial but recognise the many unintended consequences and problems that are associated with these policies. These findings, along with our previous studies, show that smartphone policies are not the silver bullet for addressing attainment, wellbeing or behaviour in schools. These findings underscore the importance of ensuring appropriate guidance is in place for how schools and teachers can support young people's wellbeing in a digital age, whether or not phone use if prohibited in schools.”

Teacher, student and parent views

The findings are taken from 40 in-depth focus group interviews with 177 students, school staff, and parents across seven schools, the largest study of its kind.

Among the restrictive schools that took part in the study, all had policies which stated that phones were not allowed to be used during the school day for recreational purposes, and phones were required to be kept inside bags, or stored in a locked pouch. In permissive schools, phones were permitted to be used for recreational purposes, either at any time, or at certain times in the school day (e.g., breaks/lunch)..

Dr Amie Randhawa from the University of Birmingham and lead researcher of the study said: “We worked with large cohorts of students, parents and school staff to build the most comprehensive picture of the realities of smartphone policies in schools. Students are well aware of the issues around phone use and many spoke to the research team about their views on how school phone policies influence wellbeing.

“These complex, rich and sometimes messy findings also show how different policies might be better for some students but not all. We heard from some students and teachers that restrictive policies encouraged greater face-to-face interactions during the school day. However, school staff in permissive schools noted that certain pupils might benefit from the availability of a wider digital network they could access during the school day, particularly if they lacked in-school friendships.”

This is the third study in the SMART Schools research programme. SMART Schools is the first research programme to work with data from a nationally representative sample of schools in England, and previous studies have been published in Lancet Regional Health Europe and BMJ Mental Health. Those studies have looked at smartphone use, a range of mental health, wellbeing and other outcomes, and the economic impact of school policies.

The research team are continuing to develop robust evidence on UK secondary schools’ implementation of policies regarding smartphones on outcomes for students and educators.

Further information about the SMART Schools study includes briefings about the research to date.