Cell phone bans in schools don't work, new study finds
+ A webcam horror game, Tamagotchi vape, Y3K fashion, lottery winner vlogs, the war on poppers, Partiful goes B2B, and the new Stanford student status job
A new study was released that found, once again, that cell phone bans in schools don’t work. The study examined a group of schools, 20 of which engaged in cellphone restriction, 20 of which did not.
The study, like others before it, found no evidence that restricting student’s access to cellphones improved their wellbeing, nor did it improve their grades in reading or math.
“Cellphone bans were never based in good science,” Christopher J Ferguson, Ph.D., an academic who has studied this area, writes. “At this point, I think the evidence that smartphones and social media are not a primary driver of what’s going on with the US’ mental health crisis (which doesn’t only or even primarily affect teens) is pretty solid. Whether cellphones harm class performance/grades…I think the evidence there is less clear either way, although some adjacent literature has not been promising vis-a-vis cellphone bans.”
“Moral panics thrive off of ‘feels’ with evidence accepted only so long as it supports the panic, with people rejecting even the need for science when it does not,” Ferguson writes. “Once again, opinions will change once the old people die.”
I’ve reported on this issue for years, you can watch an episode of Power User where I spoke to a longtime educator about this topic. The crusade to ban cell phones in schools is part of a broader moral panic about kids and technology/smartphones. Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, who I interviewed, wrote about this topic in a column for Education Week.
Reactionary hacks have been pushing the false narrative that social media and smartphones are leading to declining literacy and mental health problems. It’s false, and it’s simply the latest iteration of a long running freak out about the technology and media that young people are using. I break it all down in this video (below).
Banning cell phones in schools has been framed as a “no brainer” by many, despite evidence, like this most recent study, that shows such bans don’t do any good. There is also overwhelming evidence that such a ban would inadvertently harm the most marginalized and needy students and put them at a significant educational disadvantage.
Here’s one good piece about why banning cell phones in school isn’t the answer. WIRED also ran an excellent article on the topic. “It’s time to shift our collective gaze of accountability outward—not with a one-size-fits-all device ban, but with a renewed investment in digital literacy, ethics, and well-being,” reads the WIRED piece.
“Do we want to prepare students for the world, or for the confines of the classroom?” a parent in Los Angeles wrote in response to calls for a ban. “A world without smartphones, and their facilitation of both on-demand information and their distraction, is not a world our children will live in. A nuanced approach to facilitating and managing smartphone use in educational settings might be difficult to figure out, but it does not pretend that we can simply close the Pandora’s box of technology in our daily lives.
To be clear: I don’t think that kids should be allowed to sit on their phones all day in class!! But banning all phones outright simply does not purport to solve the problems that people claim, and the coordinated, well-funded efforts to restrict kids access to the internet and technology (in school and out) are based in politics and feelings, not facts and reality.
What I’m reading
The Pandemic Never Ended
Five years after Covid arrived on these shores, many believe the anxieties of the plague years are in the rearview mirror. But the threat is far from over. - The New Republic
Stanford students used to chase jobs at Meta and Google. Now they want to work on defense
A military tech gold rush has changed hearts and minds on campus. - SF Standard
The Battle for the Bros
Young men have gone MAGA. Can the left win them back? - New Yorker
The thin-obsessed world is growing more vicious by the minute.
Fat people aren’t going anywhere. I’s time to open up your big fat mouths and push back against fatphobia. - The Guardian
Elon Musk Wanted the Cybertruck to Look Like “the Future.” But It Reminds Us of One Particular Past.
The story of the Casspir, which patrolled townships in South Africa when the Tesla CEO was a boy. - Slate
How Meta’s take on Community Notes misses the mark
Crowdsourced moderation is better than nothing — but how much better remains an open question. - Platformer
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User Mag news rundown
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Harry and Meghan are cutting ties with Spotify after they got $20 million for twelve episodes of a podcast.
Instagram is experimenting with AI generated comments on posts, something absolutely no one wants.
REMINDER: I cannot produce this newsletter without your financial support. Your money goes directly towards reporting costs.
TGL is a brand-new spin on golf, trying to meld the best of sports with the best of the digital world — including the biggest screen you’ve ever seen.
NorthSky Social Cooperative is a group building a new ATprotocal social platform that prioritizes the LGBTQ community.
Someone is putting custom Crocs on statues across NYC.
A voice actor writes about why he parted ways with his talent agency after refusing a job involving AI.
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PepsiCo is set to acquire prebiotic soda brand Poppi.
Partiful is going after the B2B market.
A random tree in Toronto has garnered five-star reviews and become an internet sensation thanks to Reddit.
TikTok train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois bought himself a subway carriage.
Photo calorie app Cal AI, downloaded over a million times, was built by two teenagers.
Don Lemon is chasing after NYC subway trains to show people brain rot images.
News influencer Aaron Parnas is facing backlash after not covering certain breaking news stories related to immigration and Gaza.
Chappell Roan accidentally went on a match battle with a random user on TikTok live.
Detransitioning influencer Maia Poet has links to a notorious anti-trans group.
Steak ’n Shake was struggling. It turned to beef tallow — and MAGA.
Robinhood rolls out prediction markets with sports contracts.
Mysterious "Box Demon" terrorizing a small town via Ring cameras, has been caught.
Y3K fashion is rising— here’s why Gen Z is dressing like the world is ending.
Looney Toons is no longer available on Max :(
Alli and Bobby Talley started their Instagram account to share their love of travel, food, and photography. One day Alli came across an IG post that looked really similar to hers. She discovered that someone had been literally recreating her IG posts on her business and personal account for more than five years. It is a wild story.
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Haidt has no home here. But in all seriousness, it's not your readers who need to hear this, but those on the morning talk shows that keep platforming him. His hack version of moral panic somehow sits well with mainstream producers and it's a disservice to parents and children everywhere.
I've said Haidt is full of it for years. Most women that study tech don't agree with his easy answers to difficult questions.
I've always said our kids have problems because of fear of mass shootings, climate change, home prices out of reach, etc... Not because of phones.