The randomised controlled trial looked at 17,000 students, and found "mandatory in-class phone collection led to higher grades. Photo: RNZ Insight/Tess Brunton
A new study has found "strong causal evidence" that banning phones improves results in the classroom.
The large-scale study, which has been hailed as groundbreaking by adolescent development experts, is from the US, where 35 states now ban cellphones in schools.
Study lead Professor Alp Sungu from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School also found that bans created an environment more conducive to learning.
"It's an easy-to-implement policy that improved grades and we haven't seen a significant evidence against a backlash from the student fire - in fact, there's an increased preference."
The randomised controlled trial looked at 17,000 students, and found "mandatory in-class phone collection led to higher grades - particularly among lower-performing, first-year, and non-STEM students".
"Importantly, students exposed to the ban were substantially more supportive of phone-use restrictions, perceiving greater benefits from these policies and displaying reduced preferences for unrestricted access."
In New Zealand, mobiles were banned from high schools nationwide last April. So have principals here found the same positive results?
Stratford High School Principal Cam Stone said "absolutely".
"It's made a huge difference," he told Morning Report on Monday.
"It's taken away that distraction that was evident, it's taken away that need for constant 'put your phone away, put your phone away'…
"As teachers in our school have said to us, it's been one of the best decisions the ministry have made in the last five years."
Stone said NCEA results had improved across every level at the school - particularly younger kids.
"You can't underestimate the shift that there is - going from a primary or intermediate into high school is a tough change. And if you add another distraction around phones - and for some of our kids, unfortunately, phones become a heavy part of their life - by taking it away for that six hours a day… there's a smoother transition."
Arguments that kids needed phones for learning did not add up, Stone said.
"You can do some research or that kind of thing on a phone, but the reality is in a school setting, you need a bigger device, whether it's a tablet or it's a laptop.
"But for us as a school, we've set up a loan system from our library where students if they don't have a laptop on that day then they can go and loan one out for the day and hand it back at the end of the day. So schools are finding a way around that.
"I remember vividly being one of the concerns for parents and others around, well they won't have access to that phone to be able to do certain things in the classroom, but there have been workarounds. We've bought - every department in our school, we've bought two or three tablets to be able to then use in a similar vein that they use the cell phones."
Stone also backed a proposed ban on social media for youth.
"The damage that social media is doing, and - but no fault of parents, but the technologies move so quickly, they don't fully understand. Teachers too potentially don't fully understand how kids are using it and the impact of it.
"I do think there needs to be some form of ban, till they're a little bit older. I don't think 13 is old enough because we're seeing students… not quite mature enough to be able to handle what the phone's able to do and what social media is able to do, and as a result, can have a, yeah, absolutely, have a negative impact on them."
Last year, Australia's Senate passed laws to ban young people under 16 years old from social media sites from the end of 2025, including Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, but excluding YouTube.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
