Kids are spending more time on their phones during school, a new study reveals

Cellphones have become an essential part of school bags in the United States. While many parents do it to keep their kids safe and away from danger, another alarming trend is building. The kids are using their cellphones during school, even more than their parents think.

Adolescents spend an average of 70 minutes of their school days on their phones, according to research published in JAMA.

Teens are using cellphones during school hours

The study done on US adolescents found that they are spending more than an hour per day on smartphones during school hours. What are they consuming? Social media is the main content. The effect of state laws governing phone use at school “remains to be seen,” a study author said.




These new findings are crucial for educators, parents, and policymakers.

The study looked at 640 adolescents aged 13-18, enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. With the consent of these kids and parents, the researchers placed software on their Android cellphones that allowed to passively monitor the usage. The data was measured between September 2022 and May 2024.

What did they find?

The researchers found that adolescents spent an average of 1.16 hours per day on smartphones during school hours. Social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat accounted for most use, followed by YouTube and games. The older adolescents (16–18) and those from lower-income households showed higher smartphone use, compared to peers of the same age.

“These apps are designed to be addictive. They deprive students of the opportunity to be fully engaged in class and to hone their social skills with classmates and teachers,” Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the paper’s senior author. He is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and practices at Seattle Children's Hospital, said.

The research builds on the findings published last year in JAMA Pediatrics, which had fewer participants but also included iPhone users. At least 32 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones in schools. The effect of those policies “remains to be seen,” Christakis noted.

“To date, they've been very poorly enforced, if at all. I think the U.S. has to recognize the generational implications of depriving children of opportunities to learn in school,” he added.

“This moves the conversation beyond anecdotes and self-reports to real-world behavior. Teens are not always accurate reporters of their own screen time. Objective smartphone data gives us a clearer picture of actual use,” lead author Dr. Jason Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, said.