Kids who check their phones all the time at school have poorer self control

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-03-10 02:00

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Students who check their phones a lot at school score worse on self-control tests than kids who don't, according to international researchers. They say it's the number of times kids pick up their phones, rather than the total screen time, that appears to be most closely linked to self-control issues. The researchers looked at smartphone data from 79 kids aged 11-18, and found there was not a single hour of school day when kids were not using their phones, with children spending a total of 2.22 hours of the school day glued to their screens, on average. Individual students checked their phone nearly 65 times a day, on average, the researchers say, and those who checked their phone more often scored worse on a task that assesses self-control skills needed to pay attention in class. The researchers say it's unclear if phone use is degrading students' self control or if students with poorer self control are more attached to their phones, but efforts to address smartphone use in schools should focus on kids' smartphone checking behaviours and their link with attention problems, rather than just total screen time.