Smartphone Ban Policies in Secondary Schools: How Variations Between Types of Smartphone Bans Influence Students' Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

Despite the lack of robust evidence supporting smartphone bans, several European countries have recently implemented smartphone bans in secondary schools, driven by concerns over the potential negative impacts of increased smartphone usage on adolescents' cognitive and socioemotional development. The Netherlands has implemented a smartphone ban in secondary schools starting in 2024, however, without clear policy guidelines on how to effectively enforce these bans. This has led to variations among schools, with some restricting the ban to the classroom only (i.e., partial ban), while others extend the prohibition to the entire school grounds (i.e., full ban). Due to the absence of studies comparing the effectiveness of different types of smartphone bans, school boards lack the necessary evidence to make informed decisions about which type of ban to implement. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the extent to which the type of smartphone ban (i.e., partial or full) in secondary schools influences a) problematic social media use, b) wellbeing, c) social connectedness at school, and d) bullying. We expect more positive outcomes in schools with a full smartphone ban than in those with a partial ban. We use recently collected data from the EPoSS project (Early Predictors of School Success) among approximately 1,400 pupils from 27 secondary schools in the Netherlands. Preliminary results of regression analyses controlling for sex, grade and track indicate no significant effect of the type of smartphone ban on problematic smartphone use, general life satisfaction, wellbeing, sense of school belonging, and bullying. Contrary to our expectations, students from schools with a full smartphone ban report significantly more loneliness, difficulties with concentration, and lower levels of teacher and classmate connectedness. Overall, these findings support partial smartphone bans restricted to the classroom only. The implications of these findings for future research and policy development will be discussed.