Why do you keep using your smartphone when you know it’s bad for you?
Students have always slacked off in class. Before smartphones existed, they flicked rubber bands at classmates. Doodled in textbooks. Stared out windows until class ended. Modern technology just revolutionized how students zone out. Now they scroll through their phones instead. Teachers and parents started worrying. Schools around the world began banning phones from classrooms.
Is that right?
Here’s what people get wrong. Banning phones in class doesn’t mean cutting students off from technology. On August 27th, South Korea banned smartphones in classrooms. China did it. Finland did it. Some American states followed. People call this technophobic. It’s not. Students still have their phones after school. Hours to surf the internet, use whatever apps they want, access modern technology whenever. The ban just removes the distraction during class. That’s it.
But does it actually work? A recent study in India ran a randomized controlled trial. Phone bans led to measurable improvements in grades. Small gains, but real ones. The weakest students benefited most.
One finding surprised me. Banning smartphones made students more popular.
That sounds wrong until you think about it. When most students play on their phones during class, the ones trying to focus feel like they’re missing something important. Social anxiety builds. But when the school bans phones, that anxiety disappears. Nothing to miss out on anymore. Students started supporting the ban because everyone felt the same relief. No phones meant no FOMO.
Banning phones improves attention and grades. Some students complain. But the benefits win.
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