Imagine two students of a similar level doing exactly the same attention and memory test. Imagine, in fact, there is only one difference between them: one has the mobile in sight. It is silent, in a corner of the table, with the sound off; But it is in sight. The other student, before starting the test, had left it in the next room.
I would ask you to imagine who would get better results, but it doesn’t make too much sense. A team from the University of Chicago and He studied it in detail. There is nothing surprising in this mental experiment, the results coincide with our prejudices: The student who sees the mobile will get worse results.
It is something, also that connect directly to our experience real, with Our Fomowith Our “dependence” to mobile. How are we not going to worry about the damage made by these technologies in the classroom? How will the smartphone not become a first -order educational problem?
And that is precisely the problem: that if we stay on the surface of the problem, in the social and political debate, we find a Spectacular political consensus (with several Autonomous communities prohibiting them from hype and saucer); But if we deepen the scientific fund, the problems begin. Life is not summarized in an experiment from the University of Chicago.
So, we have wondered what really happens in a school when we prohibit mobile phones? What experiences have other countries and colleges that have already taken measures? Why is there no clear consensus about what to do?
What does the experience say?
Verkeorg
The scenes are almost a cliché: kids looking at the mobile phone, notifications that interrupt classes, parallel chats commenting on what happens in the classroom, bullying, anonymous messages, worried families, decentralized students … With all this in mind, it is not surprising that dozens of experts, activists and parents warn of the negative consequences for learning associated with mobile use.
In fact, with all this in mind, it is not strange that Many countries have begun to take letters In the matter: one in four countries It has regulated the use of mobiles in school. The list is very long. If we only focus on our geographical, cultural or development environment: they have done so places like France, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Canada or Australia.
The first country to do so, in fact, was Italy. In late 2006 and early 2007, several incidents impacted fully on the country’s public opinion: from a group of students who recorded bulling another student with disabilities to another in which several students were recorded sexually harassing a teacher. That led the government to prohibit mobile in class.
Unfortunately, its implementation was complex and there are not many data on its impact. What we do know is that in 2022 the Ministry of Education announced its prohibition againRecoding that (although no one paid attention to him) the measure had been in force for 15 years.
We also know that by then, many more Páisses had regulated the matter. France approved its prohibition In 2018. In a similar situation are Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden. In addition to Bavaria, the Swiss vaud canton, Ontario, Various states of Australia and dozens of school districts in the United States They have done the same. In 2023, Holland and the United Kingdom They said that it would also implement prohibitions From the following year.
How have they done it?
As we will see, this is the central question. First because, as Maria del Mar Sánchez pointed outProfessor of Educational Technology at the University of Murcia, none of these regulations has managed to homogenize the situation. If we approach what really happens in schools, “We will find great diversity“ Sánchez says.
And this makes it difficult to apply, measure and study the consequences. The best example of this is Norway. In 2024, a report He explained That the prohibition of mobiles in classes had achieved a 60% reduction in consultations by psychological symptoms in adolescents, the decrease in cases of bulling and a significant improvement in the academic results of the girls. In addition, the effects it shows are much more intense on the low -income population.
The curious thing, however, is that Norway I was not doing anything nationally with mobile phones. What was doing something was with bullying. Just coinciding with the period studied, the Nordic country was underway A series of changes To reduce bulling. The result is that, little by we are realistic, we will have to recognize that confusion is enormous.
And is Spain?
Being an autonomous competition, until recently each autonomous community and each educational center has decided on its own. As it seems, Galicia was a pioneer: In 2015 he published a decree prohibiting phones in class and, at the end of 2023, he also took a more vet during recess, dining room and entries or outputs of the center.
Behind her (and in recent years) almost all communities have gone behind. But, again“one thing is the political and the holder and another the reality that he reaches the centers.” To the point that while Autonomic decrees were reformed To accommodate more hard disciplinary approaches, in others pilot projects to use mobiles were introduced as didactic tools.
In short, Spain has been one more. Of course, it is important to note, however, that as Jose César Perales, professor at the University of Granada, explained in practice “the prohibition of mobile phones for non -educational use during school hours It was already the usual In most centers “that is, the most important change in recent years is that this prohibition is being made in a generalized way.
In experts like Laura Canois part of a political response to the ‘state of opinion’ on the impact of technology rather than a clear will to intervene educationally in the huge list of problems That has contemporary youth.
What does science say about all this?
Let’s talk about academic performance
Pabak Sarkar
In 2023, UNESCO published a report in which, without ambiguity, he defended that smartphones had become “the largest sources of student distraction.” However, when it comes to measuring the impact on school performance, scientific findings are less conclusive.
Of course, there are many investigations that suggest that prohibiting mobile in the classroom can improve academic results. An investigation cited very often, conducted in schools in the United Kingdom, He concluded that these types of prohibitions They are “cheap and effective” measures to improve students’ performance.
In fact, British researchers discovered that That effect was greater With low performance students. Other works reinforce this idea and They add other benefits such as the increase in class participation and the involvement of students in other activities.
The problem of that research (and many others) is that, when they have tried to replicate, the impacts found have always been much more modest or null. On the other hand, other more complete investigations have not been able to find significant differences in the performance of the students after the phones prohibition: the most paradigmatic and known case is that of these Swedish researchers who They came to affirm that “mobile prohibitions have no impact on school performance.
Not everything is the notes
The other great battle horse has been the well -being of the child and its long -term integral development. The attention capacity or study habits are a source of uncertainties, yes; But potential damage to mental health (and bullying) have even received more attention.
Surprisingly, “the great longitudinal studies conducted so far They have not found a clear relationship between screen time and cognitive development or psychological well -being. ” Nor have they found a relationship Among the amount of hours that minors use the mobile and problems of low self -esteem or youth unhappiness.
How is it possible?
In simple terms, because the prohibition of smartphones does not automatically become anything. And, of course, does not automatically make students better academically or reduce mental health problems. The best explanation to this is that the beneficial effect of this type of measures (which, in many ways, seems undeniable) be small and is mediated by the form in which it is applied.
And not only do I mean that, as is evident, a lax application does not give any results. But what we have learned is that The design of that prohibition is very important Because students can always find other distractions.
As Jose César Perales, a professor at the University of Granada, explains what we are finding is that “a cosmetic measure is taken, while those that are those that They could contribute To improve the mental health of our teenagers continue in some drawer. “
Little conclusive evidence, cyclothymic legislation
Despite scientific evidence and accumulated experience, the subject remains tremendously controversial among experts. Understandably, in addition. We do not have conclusive data, educational values often seem irreconcilable and, deep down, the mobile appears here as A symptom of social problems more serious and more difficult to address.
The latter is what explains, deep down, a pendular regulation. Because, like Our partner Javier Lacort said“The Spanish education system has a peculiar way to embrace innovations: with excessive enthusiasm first, and with equal intensity when rejecting them later.” And, although it is not something specific to our country (we only have to see the bands that are taking place in most western countries), the tendency to legislate without solid evidence behind is enormous.
Right now, seven Spanish communities (governed by the PP and the PSOE) They are regulating To reduce screens in classes, recover paper and “return to essences“Of traditional education. This contradicts The consensus between experts that the problem of screens is not so much “time of use” as the “use made of them”; But it aligns well with the current opinion climate that recognizes A certain inability to use Well these technologies.
Be that as it may, already these heights of the party, everything seems to point to the use of technologies in the classroom will be a persistent dilemma in our educational policy (as will the AI). At least, until we find an intermediate point between the minimization of technological distractions and prepare students to live (and learn) in a digital world.
Image | Garry Knight
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