NEW DELHI : Even as mobile-based learning applications rise in popularity, the impact of smartphone use on learning outcomes of students has increasingly come under question, with many countries considering a ban on mobile phone use at schools.
Evidence on the actual impact of smartphones have been relatively sparse so far. A new research paper by the economist Simon Amez of Ghent University and others attempts to fill this gap. The authors examined data on smartphone use, habits, socio-economic background, health status, and exam scores of students of two major Belgian universities over a period of three years (2016-2018) to find that increased use of smartphones by students led to lower exam scores.
The authors estimate the overall academic performance based on the average exam score across all completed papers and the number of exams passed. Even after controlling for individual characteristics such as gender, parental education, relationship status, language spoken at home, and the size of household, the authors found that increased use of smartphones by students is associated with reduced academic performance.
They suggest several reasons why the use of smartphones may deter academic performance and learning outcomes. Time spent on mobile phones reduces the time available for studying, and the constant access to mobile phones increases distractions. More indirectly, excessive smartphone use can have negative health consequences such as attention deficit and sleep disorders, harming academic performance.
The authors found that the use of phones while attending class and during study hours is especially detrimental to learning outcomes--the use of smartphones while studying was associated with a sharper decline in exam scores.
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