Disconnect To Reconnect: How Variations between Types of Smartphone Bans Influence Students’ Well-being and Social Connectedness in Dutch Secondary Education

TL;DR

This study examines how smartphone bans in Dutch schools affect students' well-being and social connections, finding that stricter bans may not have the intended benefits.

Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence on the effects of different types of smartphone bans in schools on student outcomes.

Findings

Full smartphone bans were not linked to better well-being or reduced bullying.

Full bans were associated with lower student-teacher connectedness and reduced school belonging for girls.

Abstract

Smartphone bans are gaining popularity in education, with approximately 40% of countries currently implementing such policies. Some schools apply smartphone restrictions to the classroom only (partial bans), while others extend the restrictions to the whole school grounds (full bans), hoping to foster student well-being and strengthen social connectedness at school. However, there is currently no empirical evidence that stricter policies are more effective in achieving these intended benefits. The current study examined how variations in type of ban affect adolescents’ screentime, problematic social media use, well-being, social connectedness at school, and bullying. The sample consisted of Dutch adolescents from 24 schools (9 partial-ban schools and 15 full-ban schools) who participated in the 2024–2025 EPoSS Study (N = 1398; Mage = 16.2; SD = 1.2; 51.5% were female; 38.3% were in partial-ban schools and 61.7% in full-ban schools). No significant differences were found for any of the well-being or bullying outcomes. However, full bans were associated with lower student-teacher connectedness and, for girls, reduced school belonging. These findings indicate that stricter bans do not yield the intended benefits for students’ well-being or bullying and may even undermine students’ social connectedness at school.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10964-025-02313-6.