American high school students aged 13 to 18 spend more than an hour a day on the phone during school hours, according to a study from the University of Washington School of Medicine, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers say social media apps are designed to be addictive.
The study tracked the use of an Android smartphone by 640 adolescents between September 2022 and May 2024, with their parents’ consent. Data shows that teens spend an average of 1.16 hours per day on their smartphones while at school. Social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat are the most used, followed by YouTube and video games. Interestingly, older teens, ages 16 to 18, from low-income households use their smartphones more than other students surveyed.
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“These apps are designed to be addictive. They deprive students of the opportunity to fully engage in class and hone their social skills with their classmates and teachers,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the lead author of the paper, in a press release. Some states and school districts have already imposed restrictions on phone calls and outright bans, although Christakis believes more needs to be done.
“So far there has been very little enforcement, if at all,” Christakis said. “I think the United States needs to recognize the generational implications of denying children the opportunity to learn in school.”
Phone use for adolescents remains controversial
This new data comes as American education grapples with the prevalence of smartphone use among children and adolescents. Social media apps that automatically pull algorithmically optimized content for instant entertainment release dopamine in the brain, according to a Brown University study. This creates a positive feedback loop, which can keep phone users locked in. The rush for quickly digestible entertainment leads to decreased concentration and attention span, according to a study by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
The prevalence of smartphone use among adolescents coincides with a continued decline in math and reading scores, which has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many school districts are experimenting with outright bans on phone calls. Others argue that phones, when used correctly, can benefit students in the classroom through educational apps.
Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C., have some sort of no-phone policy in place, and 74 percent of adults say they would support banning phones in middle and high school.
The UNPLUGGED bill, aimed at reducing distractions from smartphones and personal electronic devices in public schools, and the Focus on Learning Act, intended to study and address the impact of mobile device use in schools, have not yet reached the White House for final consideration.
