In 2024, the Netherlands introduced a smartphone ban in secondary schools. The idea behind the ban is that excessive phone use negatively affects academic performance. Secondary schools are free to decide how the ban is implemented in practice. Some only ban mobile phones from the classroom, while others ban them from the school premises altogether.
There has so far been relatively little research on the effectiveness of different types of smartphone bans, explain ROA researchers Elien Vanluydt and Tim Huijts. Most existing studies have focused mainly on academic performance. The two researchers argue that this view is too narrow. Students’ well-being and their sense of connectedness to classmates and teachers should also be taken into account. This is what they set out to investigate together with other researchers, including colleagues from the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences – “the first study of its kind in the Netherlands, as far as we know”. Nearly 1,400 students from 24 secondary schools across six Dutch provinces completed a questionnaire. Schools were also asked whether they had implemented a full or partial smartphone ban.
Too simplistic
The study was recently published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. For most of the issues examined, there was little difference between full and partial bans. Students in both groups reported similar levels of general life satisfaction, loneliness, physical and emotional symptoms and bullying or victimisation. The results came as a surprise, says Vanluydt. “We expected a full ban to be associated with greater student well-being, and that the complete absence of such distractions would lead to more and better social interaction.”
According to the researchers, one possible explanation is that phone bans may reduce screen time but do not necessarily reduce problematic social media use. Vanluydt also stresses that it is too simplistic to present mobile phones as the main cause of declining well-being among secondary school students. “There’s so much else going on in their lives, such as global crises and increasing academic pressure. And there is greater awareness of student well-being nowadays. A smartphone ban, whether full or partial, is no miracle cure.”
Speculation
Perhaps even more surprisingly, full bans were linked to worse outcomes in some respects. Students at secondary schools with full bans reported feeling less connected to their teachers, and girls reported feeling less accepted and less part of the school community. Vanluydt can only speculate as to why this might be. “One hypothesis is that stricter rules are experienced as something imposed on students. Teachers are then seen as the ones imposing those rules, which may weaken the bond between them and their students. Another possible explanation is that, without smartphones, there are fewer opportunities for informal interaction with teachers.”
Does this mean that schools with full smartphone bans should change their policies? The researchers say it is still far too early to draw that conclusion. “We collected these data just ten months after the introduction of the smartphone ban. Perhaps – although this too is speculation – more positive effects will emerge in the longer term. I think these kinds of policies require ongoing evaluation. This study is only a first step.”