According to The Economist, the French government has banned the use of smartphones in primary and secondary schools since 2018. Because they believe this helps children focus, reduce their use of social networks, and reduce online bullying. The Netherlands also introduced a similar ban from January 2024. At the end of this year, Hungary also applied a similar ban. In Britain, Parliament is considering similar measures. The main question they face is how the ban on smartphones in schools will benefit mental health?

   In 2021, one of America's chief surgeons conducted a study among American high school students between 2009-2019 and found that the feeling of despair among these students increased by 40 percent, and the number of people seriously considering suicide increased by 36 percent. Worst of all, 48 percent of mental health problems that occur during adolescence (such as depression and anxiety) torment people throughout their lives.

   These trends can be attributed to the increase in the number of smartphones, but establishing a causal link is difficult. Part of the problem is that smartphones include too many functions (solving crosswords, reading news). Children are also different. That is, the use of a smartphone is different for each child, and this should be taken into account in any study.

   In a study led by Amy Orben at the University of Cambridge, 17,409 people aged 10 to 21 were asked how satisfied they were with their lives and how much they used social networks, and in an article published in the journal Nature Communications in 2022, the results of the study showed that girls who increased their use of social networks during the year were significantly dissatisfied with their married life.

   However, it is unknown how much this will change if phones are banned in schools. According to Dr. Orben, it is impossible to determine the detailed information of telephone users. Because the researcher is forced to rely on measurements such as total screen time. It is unknown exactly for what purpose the child is using the phone. As a result, a child using a phone in education provides the same analytical information as children on social networks.

Source: https://t.me/rahimjon_hakimov/224