During the typing of this sentence, I’ve checked my phone 3 times (FYI none of my friends have messaged me and only my mum has commented on my latest instagram – despite me repeatedly asking her not to). Joking aside, as adults, most of us know that we use our smartphones too much. A recent US study, found that over half of the respondents believed they had a smart phone addiction, whilst over two thirds of respondents admitted to spending more time on their phones than with their partner. It is this backdrop that frames our apprehension about our children’s use of smartphones. This apprehension – that has sparked laudable campaigns like Smartphone Free Childhood – is not baseless; not only can we observe the effects on our kids, but research shows that increased smartphone use lowers academic performance.
This is what Clarendon Tutors bans tutors from taking out their phones during sessions and we strongly recommend children leave their phones in a different room whilst studying.
Despite what you would assume, the research doesn’t support the idea of smartphones rotting our brains; there is very little compelling evidence to conclusively show that they adversely affect our ability to concentrate or to retain information (although such studies are hard to conduct ethically on children).
Clarendon Tutors has trawled through the research, so you don’t have to, and the three most supported reasons for smartphones’ adverse effects on children and their learning are as follows:
1. Effects sleep. The blue light of the smartphone inhibits the body’s ability to produce melatonin, negatively impacting sleep. Lack of sleep is one of the most common causes of lower academic performance.
2. Detrimental effects of social media. There is an abundance of research showing that increased social media use – especially amongst teenagers – leads to anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression have been shown conclusively to lower academic performance.
3. Less physical activity. There is clear negative correlation between children spending time on their phones and time spent exercising. There are only so many hours in the day. This means children on smartphones are exercising less and not enjoying the clear cognitive benefits of exercising.
What we recommend:
1. Device free zones. The dining room and all study rooms would be where we would start with this rule.
2. Hand in phones at night. Children staying up late on phones is disastrous for academic outcomes.
3. Place time limits on social media apps.
4. Don’t give children smartphones too early. We’re not here to tell you what age is right. Each parent will be able to decide this for themselves.
5. Be careful about your own smartphone use in front of your kids. Children will model their behaviour on what they see at home. (which reminds me, has anyone liked my Instagram post yet?)
