{"id":39679,"date":"2025-06-11T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39679"},"modified":"2025-06-12T05:57:48","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T05:57:48","slug":"we-surveyed-1500-florida-kids-about-cellphones-and-their-mental-health-what-we-learned-suggests-school-phone-bans-may-have-important-but-limited-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/we-surveyed-1500-florida-kids-about-cellphones-and-their-mental-health-what-we-learned-suggests-school-phone-bans-may-have-important-but-limited-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"We surveyed 1,500 Florida kids about cellphones and their mental health \u2013 what we learned suggests school phone bans may have important but limited effects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Justin D. Martin<\/a>, University of South Florida<\/a><\/em> and Chighaf Bakour<\/a>, University of South Florida<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Florida, a bill that bans cellphone use<\/a> in elementary and middle schools, from bell to bell, recently sailed through the state Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law<\/a> on May 30, 2025. The same bill calls for high schools in six Florida districts to adopt the ban during the upcoming school year and produce a report on its effectiveness by Dec. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents are divided on the issue. According to a report from Education Week, many parents want their kids to have phones for safety reasons<\/a> \u2013 and don\u2019t support bans as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the debate over whether phones should be banned<\/a> in K-12 schools \u2013 and if so, how<\/a> \u2013 students themselves are rarely given a voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are experts in media use<\/a> and public health<\/a> who surveyed 1,510 kids ages 11 to 13<\/a> in Florida in November and December 2024 to learn how they\u2019re using digital media and the role tech plays in their lives at home and at school. Their responses were insightful \u2013 and occasionally surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adults generally cite four reasons to ban phone use during school: to improve kids\u2019 mental health, to strengthen academic outcomes, to reduce cyberbullying<\/a> and to help limit kids\u2019 overall screen time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as our survey shows, it may be a bit much to expect a cellphone ban to accomplish all of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do kids want?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some of the questions in our survey shine light on kids\u2019 feelings toward banning cellphones \u2013 even though we didn\u2019t ask that question directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked them if they feel relief when they\u2019re in a situation where they can\u2019t use their smartphone, and 31% said yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, 34% of kids agreed with the statement that social media causes more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And kids were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to agree with those statements if they attended schools where phones are banned or confiscated for most of the school day, with use only permitted at certain times. That group covered 70% of the students we surveyed because many individual schools or school districts<\/a> in Florida have already limited students\u2019 cellphone use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How students use cellphones matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some \u201cpower users\u201d of cellphone apps could likely use a break from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty percent of children we surveyed said push notifications on their phones<\/a> \u2014 that is, notifications from apps that pop up on the phone\u2019s screen \u2014 are never turned off. These notifications are likely coming from the most popular apps kids reported using, like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This 20% of children was roughly three times more likely to report experiencing anxiety than kids who rarely or never have their notifications on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were also nearly five times more likely to report earning mostly D\u2019s and F\u2019s in school than kids whose notifications are always or sometimes off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our survey results also suggest phone bans would likely have positive effects on grades and mental health among some of the heaviest screen users. For example, 22% of kids reported using their favorite app for six or more hours per day. These students were three times more likely to report earning mostly D\u2019s and F\u2019s in school than kids who spend an hour or less on their favorite app each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also were six times more likely than hour-or-less users to report severe depression symptoms. These insights remained even after ruling out numerous other possible explanations for the difference \u2014 like age, household income, gender, parent\u2019s education, race and ethnicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banning students\u2019 access to phones at school means these kids would not receive notifications for at least that seven-hour period and have fewer hours in the day to use apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phones and mental health<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, other data we collected suggests that bans aren\u2019t a universal benefit for all children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventeen percent of kids who attend schools that ban or confiscate phones report severe depression symptoms, compared with just 4% among kids who keep their phones with them during the school day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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