Disclaimer: Please note that parts of this English sci-fly were automatically translated.
More and more schools are restricting the use of smartphones during school hours. About 40% of the world’s countries (such as the Netherlands, France, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Australia) have now enacted laws for this. Some schools enforce smartphone restrictions only during class (partial ban), while others do so throughout the entire school day (complete ban). Because it remains unclear what impact these measures have on adolescents’ well-being and social connectedness, this study examined both types of bans and potential gender differences.
CORE
- The results are mixed: Compared to a partial ban, a total ban was associated with less screen time, but not with problematic social media use, well-being, or bullying.
- Contrary to expectations, a complete ban, compared to a partial ban, was associated with less connection to teachers and, exclusively among girls, with less school connectedness.
- A stricter smartphone policy therefore does not appear to be more effective.
- The findings call for follow-up research using a longitudinal or (quasi-)experimental design to determine how different forms of smartphone bans are associated with changes in students’ well-being and school attachment.
- The results suggest that promoting well-being may require more than just stricter rules on smartphone use, such as attention to the broader social, educational, and digital environments of young people.
RESEARCH METHOD
WHAT? The researchers investigated whether the type of smartphone ban was associated with social media use, well-being, social connectedness, and (cyber)bullying, and whether these associations differed between boys and girls.
WHO? The study included 1,398 students in grades 9 through 12 from 24 Dutch secondary schools (678 boys, 687 girls, and 33 students who preferred not to disclose their gender). The average age was 16.2 years (SD = 1.2 years).
HOW? Data collection took place between September 2024 and February 2025. Students completed an online survey lasting approximately 30 minutes during school hours.One school staff member reported whether the school enforced a partial smartphone ban (only in the classroom) or a complete ban (schoolwide). Multilevel regression was used to examine the associations.
RESULTS
- The type of smartphone ban was not significantly associated with problematic social media use, well-being (life satisfaction, loneliness, physical complaints, emotional complaints, and fatigue), (cyber)bullying, or connectedness with classmates.
- Students in schools with a complete ban were less likely to have high screen time (>3 hours per day) during their free time than those in schools with a partial ban. However, when the analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls, this association was no longer significant.
- Among girls, perceived school connectedness was lower at schools with a complete ban than at schools with a partial ban.
- Both girls and boys reported lower student-teacher connection under a complete ban.
- Note: Because there was no baseline measurement prior to the implementation of the smartphone ban (2024), it is unclear whether the smartphone policy caused changes in well-being or connectedness.
DETAILS
Vanluydt, E., van den Eijnden, R., Vonk, L., Putrik, P., van Amelsvoort, T., Delespaul, P., Levels, M., & Huijts, T. (2026). Disconnect to reconnect: How variations between types of smartphone bans influence students’ well-being and social connectedness in dutch secondary education. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 55, 551–569. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-025-02313-6
This sci-fly was written by Aafke Swinkels (Radboud University) for RAD-blog, the blog about smoking, alcohol, drugs and diet.