A new study found that US adolescents, on average, spent more than an hour using smartphones during school, with social media use accounting for most of that time. These objective findings from a large sample extend those of a prior smaller study based on self-report, which similarly demonstrated 1 hour of smartphone usage per school day.
This study observed disparities in school smartphone use. Black participants, compared with White participants, and participants from low-income households engaged with smartphones for 12 to 20 minutes more daily during school hours. Reasons for disparities were not assessed here but could include differences in school environments.
The ABCD-EARS app assessed only Android users; results may not generalize to iOS users. Additionally, this study did not account for school policy changes throughout 2022-2024. Because school smartphone regulations are rapidly changing, future periodic analyses are necessary to understand the evolving relationships between these policies, adolescent smartphone use, and long-term academic outcomes.
Adolescents spent the most time on social media apps (eg, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat; mean, 29.98 [SD, 32.69] minutes), followed by video apps (eg, YouTube; mean, 14.84 [SD, 26.19] minutes), and game apps (eg, Roblox, Clash Royale, Pokemon GO; mean, 14.72 [SD, 19.56] minutes). Later adolescence (16-18 vs 13-15 years old), Black and other/unknown race (compared with White race), and lower household income were associated with higher total school smartphone and social app time. Problematic social media use was positively associated with greater school smartphone time on social media apps (10.1 minutes [95% CI, 4.3-15.9]). Problematic mobile phone use was positively associated with greater school smartphone (9.7 minutes [95% CI, 0.2-19.2]) and social media app (6.8 minutes [95% CI, 0.9-12.6]) time
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