07 Jan EdSource: Study Finds Students Spend Over an Hour on Smartphones During School

(Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash)

By Diana Lambert
EdSource

Teens spend more than an hour on smartphones on average during school, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, analyzed data from 640 adolescents aged 13 to 18 who participated in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Smartphone use was measured using a mobile phone application.

“We found that teens spent more than an hour on their phones during the school day on average, largely on social media, video, and gaming apps,” said lead author Jason M. Nagata, professor of pediatrics at UC San Francisco. “That time inevitably competes with attention to learning.”

Key findings:

• Adolescents spent an average of 1.16 hours per day on smartphones during school hours.
• Social media apps (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat) accounted for the most school-time smartphone use, followed by video apps (YouTube) and games.
• Older adolescents (16-18), Black youth, and adolescents from lower-income households showed higher smartphone use during school hours compared with peers.
• Objective smartphone data highlight that phones remain a significant presence during the school day, even amid school policies aimed at limiting use.