Focus, academic perfomance and mental health outcomes in classroom cell phone use

Absence of phone use in class resulted in more note-taking, more detailed notes and a better grade by 1 full letter. Image credit: ©ARAMYAN – stock.adobe.com

Karl Golnik, MD, MEd, addressed the great debate about whether use of cell phones in class helps or hinders student learning, and his team's conclusion may prove to be unexpected. He is Chair, Ophthalmology Foundation Education Committee, Professor Barrow Neurological Institute, University of Arizona, and Creighton University, both in Phoenix, AZ.

He reported that as of September 2024, 27 US states have addressed the issue of cell phone use in class, ie, the state education department issued policy recommendations or pilot studies in six states implemented bans or restrictions, state-wide legislation was introduced in 14 states, and state-wide bans or restrictions were implemented in seven states.

Golnik explained that the report only addresses primary school classrooms. There is no similar data on college or post-graduate classrooms.

He undertook a literature review that focused on the effect of in-class use of cell phones in college or post-graduate settings and identified 15 studies that addressed this. Many reports on cell phone use have been published on grade school and high school students, and little on the performance of post-graduate students. Many investigators have looked at cell phone use on a daily basis and cell phone addiction, but not on classroom use, he explained.

The various studies included in his analysis produced some interesting results.

• Students were found to experience anxiety with and without a cell phone present.
• Use of cell phones in class for social reasons distracted from the class focus.
• Grades were lower with greater social cell phone use in class; non-academic use resulted in poorer performance.
• Use of phones in class resulted in decreased long-term retention, examination and final performance.
• Absence of phone use in class resulted in more note-taking and better details in the notes, a better grade by 1 full letter, and a higher examination grade by half a letter.

However, other studies showed that when cell phones are used for teaching purposes, such as increasing interaction and answering quiz questions, then social use decreases and grades can improve.

Golnik concluded, “Social use in the classroom seems detrimental; learning use in the classroom is good, and with increasing learning uses, social use decreases.”