Not everything is rosy when it comes to banning cell phones for young people on school grounds. Let a new study on student mental health say so.
“If schools decide to implement a total ban on smartphones, there are a few things they should be aware of,” says Sanyogita Khare, a researcher at Radboud University in the Netherlands, to . “Young people who are more socially vulnerable may struggle more. Students may feel a little more disconnected from their friends.”
These are the conclusions of a new published in PsyArXiv who measured two forms of loneliness: social and emotional. “Social loneliness is more related to the broader network of relationships; whether we feel part of a group,” explains Khare. “Emotional loneliness is more related to the feeling of closeness and intimacy in a close friendship.”
The Netherlands has banned cell phones and other smart devices in classrooms since January 1, 2024. In Portugal, the application of the measure is also being discussed, applicable only to students up to the 6th year of schooling. Now, the new study proves that this contested measure could possibly have a more negative social impact than previously thought.
When comparing the evolution of these indicators before and after the ban, researchers found mixed results. “We didn’t find a general change in social loneliness, but we did see a slight increase in emotional loneliness,” says Khare.
For his part, researcher Jonathan Cantor assures that “the biggest problem at the moment is that, in order to rigorously evaluate the effect of these policies at school level, we need to have detailed data on the type of policy and when it came into force“, he says. “That’s what everyone is trying to analyze now”.
