Over the last year or so, there has been a surge in public concern around smartphones and social media. Banning or restricting children’s access to smartphones and social media has grasped the attention of policy makers, schools and parents. A number of countries, including France, Turkey, Norway, Sweden, and regions of the US and Canada have introduced laws, policies or guidance for schools to ‘ban’ or heavily restrict the use of phones. In the UK, there are proposals to raise the age of ‘internet adulthood’ from 13 to 16, and to ban smartphones in schools. The third reading of a private members’ bill on this topic will be heard in parliament in July.

Whilst these bans aim to protect children from harm, recent studies highlight a lack of evidence on their efficacy.

Along with a team of international experts, our latest Researcher of the Month, Professor Victoria Goodyear, argues that, in isolation, banning smartphone and social media access fails to equip children for healthy use of technology. She suggests that there is a need to shift debates, policies and practices away from a sole focus on restricting smartphone and social media access, toward an emphasis on nurturing children’s digital skills for healthy technology use, and a rights-respecting approach which is underpinned by age-appropriate design and education.

Summary

We all know that teens spend significant portions of their time engaging with smartphones and social media. They use devices to play games, interact with friends and as a form of entertainment, and smartphones have become a significant part of their daily lives. Smartphones confer various benefits; they can aid learning, creativity, and can help young people to make and maintain friendships. Smartphones and social media are also associated with certain harms, including access to inappropriate or harmful content, and problematic use.

An ever growing body of research on associations between phone and/or social media time and adolescent health and wellbeing tends to suggest that, in moderation, screen-based activities can be advantageous for mental health and wellbeing, and other associated health and behavioural outcomes. We also know that when assessing benefits and risks, it's vital to consider what teens are doing on screens, rather than simply how long they are on them for. Digital diet is key!

In a bid to reduce the time that young people spend on screens, bans are attractive.

They are immediately actionable and relatively straightforward to enforce. Anecdotally, most media-based accounts from school leaders about the impact of smartphone bans are positive. However, there is no consistent evidence that smartphone bans have the desired positive effects, or that more restrictive policies are more effective.

At the moment, we simply don't know enough about the impact of bans. Evidence is hampered by the fact that technological developments and technology use is moving at a faster pace than research. Some studies suggest that bans are beneficial to academic outcomes and mental wellbeing. Others suggest no effects. However, many studies have methodological weaknesses, use small samples or retrospective data, and can't ascribe causal mechanisms.

Professor Goodyear’s recently published SMART Schools Study evaluated the impact of school phone policies by comparing outcomes in adolescents who attended schools that either restrict or permit phone use. It found no evidence of school restrictions being associated with overall lower levels of phone or media use, or problematic social media use, and no benefits to adolescent mental health and wellbeing, physical activity and sleep, educational attainment or classroom behaviour.

Professor Goodyear argues that whilst technology-free moments and spaces are important, we need to look beyond “stop gap solutions that do little to support children’s longer term healthy engagement with digital spaces across school, home, and other contexts, and their successful transition into adolescence and adulthood in a technology filled world.”

So where do we go from here?

Well, Professor Goodyear draws on the analogy of driving. Driving a car without first receiving training and education would be inherently dangerous. But cars also confer significant benefits, rather like digital technology. In response to increasing car accident-related injuries and deaths, cars were not banned. Instead, society focused on product safety regulations for companies (introducing things like seatbelts and airbags) and consumers (vehicle safety tests and driving rules and penalties), public infrastructure (traffic lights) and education (licences) to support safer use. The focus wasn't on preventing people from using cars. It was on supporting people to use and engage with them in safe and effective ways.

Similarly, Professor Goodyear and her colleagues argue that prescribing abstinence from all technologies in order to protect against potential harms is unrealistic and potentially detrimental in a society where technology use is a practical necessity and confers various benefits. They believe that the way forward is a child rights-respecting approach, underpinned by age-appropriate platform design and digital education. This has a dual focus on protecting children from harm and supporting the development of children’s digital skills and agency to participate in a digital society. They note that schools, teachers and parents require training and guidance to aid their active involvement in the development of children’s healthy technology use and in shaping future policies and approaches, and that since we lack evidence for the most effective approach to addressing phone and social media use in adolescents, all new approaches need to be accompanied by robust evaluation.

Implications

What can schools do?

Remember that you know your community best. As is recommended in government guidance within the UK, most settings do already have smartphone policies in place, having consulted stakeholders and made decisions about what is best for their pupils. Trust your own understanding of your students.

Remember that current research suggests that the strictness of the policy does not necessarily impact children’s outcomes. The SMART Study compared schools with different restriction levels - for example, whether phones were accessible or inaccessible to pupils, whether they had phones in their bags, pouches, lockers, or whether they simply weren’t allowed on school premises at all. It found no difference in mental health or other outcomes.

Remember that teachers and pupils value nuances in policies. A nuanced and well thought out policy can cater for different demographics of pupils, different ways of learning, different approaches and different levels of education.

Build trust by taking note of pupil voice. Find out what your support your students think that they need. Professor Goodyear’s research has found that whilst student views on smartphone bans are mixed and they tend to favour a permissive approach, most would also like some boundaries. Students are generally aware that phones could be distracting in lessons and would like more support to use them appropriately.

Try to keep up with the research. New evidence is constantly emerging. Make an effort to keep pace with it, rather than making decisions based on conjecture. Tooled Up can help here!

Remember that education is key. Bans won't help children and young people to engage with digital technology in a healthy way. Education will. Use robust resources like those from the Harvard Center for Digital Thriving. Their agency-centred approach supports children to have meaningful choice, intentionality and control over how technology fits into their lives.

Explore children’s rights online. Use the resources available on the Digital Futures for Children website. These clearly lay out key points that can be used to open up discussion and encourage us to think about children’s rights online holistically rather than simplistically.

Work in partnership with parents and carers. At the moment, there are no evidence-based age guidelines for giving children access to digital devices. Listen to our interview with Dr Kim Sylwander to find out more. Encourage families to strike a good balance between online and offline activities.

Build algorithmic literacy. We’re keeping an eye on the work of Dr Lizzy Winstone from the University of Bristol. She has produced a helpful report with recommendations, and is working on resources for schools.

And at home?

Remember that open communication is key. Your children are likely to be having very different digital experiences to you, and a very different childhood to the one that you remember. Chat with them about their online world, ask them about their experiences, lean in, and keep going with conversations, even if they feel tricky.

Tooled Up members can listen to our interview with Professor Victoria Goodyear here. Remember, if you are a Tooled Up member, you also have access to our whole platform, which is packed with evidence-based resources designed to support children in the digital world.