Dec 17, 2024 07:00:00

Study reveals that banning smartphones at school improves sleep and mood

Australia has become the first country in the world to pass

a bill banning social media use by those under the age of 16 in November 2024, drawing global attention to efforts to protect young people from the harmful effects of smartphones. A team of psychologists from the University of York in the UK tested the actual effects of banning smartphone use on the brain, including sleep, health, and cognition, on a group of first-year junior high school students. The researchers reported that they found that school-led smartphone bans had a positive effect on sleep and mood.

School smartphone ban results in better sleep and improved mo - News and events, University of York
https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/school-smartphone-ban-better-sleep/

Lisa Henderson, a psychology professor at the University of York, and her colleagues conducted an experiment in which a group of eighth-grade students at Stanway School in Colchester, Essex, were banned from using smartphones for 21 days. After the students took a series of tests, they were randomly assigned to either a group that was banned from using smartphones or a group that was allowed to continue using their smartphones. After three weeks, they were retested to examine the effects of the smartphone ban.

Students in the smartphone-banned group went to bed 50 minutes earlier, at 10:12 PM, compared with an average of 11:02 PM during the week before the ban. Students in the smartphone-banned group also reported a 17% decrease in feelings related to depression and an 18% decrease in feelings related to anxiety, and felt less agitated and tense overall. The researchers noted that students who reported improved sleep quality also showed changes in their heart rates, suggesting improved health.

On the other hand, the study found that smartphone abstinence did not significantly improve cognitive ability. Tests conducted before and after the experiment showed a 3% improvement in scores for the smartphone-free group, but concluded that there was no improvement in sustained attention. The researchers speculate that this result 'may mean that it takes longer than the 21-day study period for changes in cognitive ability to appear.'

'This experiment incorporated a much longer smartphone ban period than previous studies, allowing us to see how a smartphone ban at school affects sleep, health, cognitive ability, and attention,' Henderson said. 'Our findings suggest that a smartphone ban in children under 14 years of age may have a positive effect on their sleep, leading to improved sleep and overall mood.'

Emma Sullivan, a researcher at Yale University's School of Psychology, who participated in the study, mentioned that countries such as Australia have introduced social media bans for people under the age of 16. She commented on the significance of the study, saying, 'Evidence gathering is crucial when making big decisions that affect young people's lives, and more work needs to be done in this area. Our findings are the first of their kind and should be an interesting starting point for more informed conversations.'