Phones and Technology in Schools: What the Evidence Shows

Catonsville Unplugged proudly supports the work of Distraction-Free Schools Maryland, a grassroots effort advocating for phone-free, bell-to-bell schools across the state. Their work reflects a growing evidence base showing that removing personal phones from the school day improves learning, safety, equity, and school climate.

Learn more and take action here:https://www.distractionfreeschools.com/maryland-action

Phones in School Undermine Learning and Social Development

There is growing evidence that unrestricted access to personal electronic devices during the school day interferes with the educational mission of schools, lowers academic performance (particularly among low-achieving students), increases cyberbullying, and contributes to academic dishonesty (Campbell et al., Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 2021).

Experimental research shows that allowing laptops in class is associated with lower exam performance compared with traditional paper-based instruction (Carter, Greenberg & Walker, 2017). Importantly, students do not need to be actively using their devices for harm to occur: the mere presence of a phone or laptop reduces available cognitive capacity, impairs attention, and lowers long-term recall (Carter et al., 2017).

Students who engage in off-task texting, messaging, or social media during class take lower-quality notes and perform worse academically. Nearby students are also negatively affected by others’ device use, even if they themselves are not using a device (Carter et al., 2017).

Evidence from Phone-Free Schools

A large Norwegian study examining schools that implemented smartphone bans found that banning phones:

• Reduced bullying for both girls and boys

• Led to significant academic gains for girls, including improvements in externally graded math exams (≈ 0.22 standard deviations)

• Produced especially strong benefits for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds

• Reduced mental-health-related healthcare visits by 2–3 visits per child per year

The strongest effects occurred in schools with strict, bell-to-bell bans, where phones were handed in or locked away—not merely placed on silent mode. Even silenced phones continue to pull at attention as students wonder about messages or notifications (Abrahamsson, Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health, 2024).

Phones Create Safety Risks at School

School safety experts warn that student cell phone use during emergencies can make children less safe by distracting them from staff instructions, spreading misinformation, and making students easier to locate by someone intending harm (American Academy of Pediatrics & school safety experts, 2024).

A 2024 New York Times investigation reviewing more than 400 school fight videos found a pattern of students using phones and social media to arrange, provoke, record, and spread violent assaults. In several cases, students later died from their injuries (Richtel, New York Times, 2024).

Problems with School-Issued Technology and Classroom Computers

Concerns extend beyond phones to default laptop and tablet use in classrooms.

Students who read on screens tend to comprehend less than those who read on paper, especially for complex texts. Print reading produces substantially stronger comprehension outcomes, particularly for children ages 6–12 (Delgado et al., Educational Research Review, 2018).

Students also tend to perform worse on online tests than paper-based assessments in both math and English language arts. These effects are strongest for English language learners, students from lower-income households, and students with IEPs (OECD, Students, Computers and Learning, 2015).

International research examining millions of students found that those who used computers heavily at school performed significantly worse across most learning outcomes, even after accounting for socioeconomic background (OECD, 2015).

Educational Technology: Limited Evidence and Serious Privacy Concerns

Despite widespread adoption, many educational technology products lack meaningful evidence of effectiveness. Reviews of early literacy apps found that 77% have no reliable research supporting learning outcomes, and when studies exist, they often focus on usability rather than actual learning (Hirsh-Pasek et al., How We Learn, Scientific American Mind).

School-issued digital tools also raise significant privacy concerns:

• Nearly all school tech apps share student data with third parties

• Nearly 90% can surveil students outside school hours

• Approximately 60% send student data to advertising platforms

• Only 14% of schools enable caregiver consent for technology use

Schools and ed-tech companies are also frequent targets for cyberattacks, putting student data at risk.

Our Position

Catonsville Unplugged supports:

• Phone-free schools from bell to bell

• Clear limits on school-day screen use

• Educational technology used intentionally and sparingly for specific skills (e.g., coding, music production, design), not as a default replacement for books, paper, and in-person instruction

School should be a place where students can focus, learn, interact face-to-face, and feel safe. The evidence is clear: phones and unrestricted classroom technology undermine those goals.