Do Adults Support Banning Smartphones in Schools?

Christakis et al. (2026) examine whether adult attitudes—especially parental attitudes—support banning student smartphone access during the school day. They ask whether support for school smartphone bans is widespread across countries and which individual characteristics predict that support. They analyze cross-sectional survey data from 35,018 adults across 35 countries, using logistic regression to adjust for demographics, parental status, life satisfaction, and digital behavior. They find broad global support: 76.2% of respondents favor bans, with support ranging from 45.4% in South Korea to 87.0% in France. Parents are more supportive than nonparents (OR = 1.13). Women, older adults, and those who feel they spend too much time online also show higher support.

Why This Article Was Selected for The Policy Scientist

This article addresses a policy issue of growing global salience: how educational systems respond to pervasive smartphone use among children during instructional time. As governments and school districts rapidly adopt phone bans, understanding whether such policies align with adult and parental attitudes is essential for institutional legitimacy and durability. The study is timely given the speed with which these policies are spreading across jurisdictions, often ahead of rigorous evidence on their effects. Christakis and colleagues have contributed extensively to research on youth media exposure, and this article extends that work into the policy opinion domain. The large, multinational dataset is a clear strength and supports broad descriptive generalizability. The statistical methods are competently executed but observational; future research would be strengthened by causal designs linking policy adoption to student outcomes.

Full Citation and Link to Article

Christakis, D., Lia, N. J., & Hale, L. (2026). Adult attitudes about school smartphone bans. JAMA Pediatrics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.5736

Central Research Question

This research letter asks whether adult attitudes—particularly those of parents—support policies that ban student access to smartphones during the school day, and how that support varies across countries and individual characteristics. The authors focus on whether public opinion aligns with the rapid expansion of school smartphone bans globally and whether parental status, demographic factors, and digital behavior are systematically associated with support for such restrictions. Rather than evaluating the effectiveness of smartphone bans themselves, the study is explicitly concerned with policy legitimacy and feasibility, given that adult and parental buy-in may shape both adoption and enforcement. The central question is therefore descriptive and comparative: how widespread is support for school smartphone bans, and who is most likely to endorse them?

Previous Literature

The article builds on a growing literature documenting the prevalence of smartphone use among children and adolescents during school hours and the broader concerns surrounding problematic media use. Prior research by Christakis and others has shown that smartphones occupy a substantial share of students’ daily attention and are frequently used during instructional time. Related studies have examined associations between in-school phone use, mental well-being, social media exposure, and sleep outcomes, often raising concerns about distraction and overuse. At the policy level, international organizations such as UNESCO have documented the rapid diffusion of school smartphone bans, but with limited attention to public opinion. Existing work on school phone policies has largely focused on observational associations between policies and student outcomes rather than the social acceptability of the policies themselves. This study fills that gap by situating smartphone bans within the broader literature on digital well-being and policy adoption, emphasizing attitudes rather than behavioral or academic effects.

Data

The authors use cross-sectional survey data from a large multinational digital well-being survey administered by PSB Insights. The sample includes 35,018 adults aged 18 to 99 across 35 countries, collected between June and July 2025. The survey was translated into local languages and back-translated to ensure consistency, and standard quality checks were applied. Respondents provided information on demographic characteristics, parental status, education, life satisfaction, social media use, and perceptions of their own time spent online. The primary outcome is agreement with the statement that schools should prevent all children from having access to their phones during the school day. The size and geographic breadth of the dataset allow for cross-national comparisons and subgroup analysis, making it unusually comprehensive for research on education-related public opinion.

Methods

The analysis relies on nested logistic regression models to estimate the probability that respondents support school smartphone bans. The models adjust for country fixed effects and a range of individual-level covariates, including age, sex, parental status, education, life satisfaction, social media participation, and perceived overuse of online time. Odds ratios are reported to summarize associations between these characteristics and support for bans. Statistical significance is assessed using conventional thresholds. The approach is observational and descriptive, aiming to identify correlates of policy support rather than causal effects. While the methods are standard and appropriate for opinion data, they do not attempt to establish causal pathways or isolate exogenous variation in attitudes. As such, the results should be interpreted as associations rather than evidence of causal mechanisms.

Findings/Size Effects

The authors find broad global support for banning smartphones during school hours. Across the full sample, 76.2 percent of respondents agree that students should not have access to phones during the school day. Support varies substantially by country, ranging from 45.4 percent in South Korea to 87.0 percent in France. In the United States, a clear majority of parents support bans. Parental status is a significant predictor: parents are more likely than nonparents to support bans, with an odds ratio of approximately 1.13. Female respondents also show higher support (OR ≈ 1.15), as do older adults. Higher life satisfaction is modestly associated with greater support. Individuals who report spending more time online than they would like are more supportive of bans (OR ≈ 1.13), while social media users are less likely to support restrictions (OR < 1). These effects are statistically significant but moderate in magnitude, suggesting broad consensus rather than polarization.

Conclusion

This study provides a timely and policy-relevant snapshot of adult attitudes toward school smartphone bans at a moment when such policies are expanding rapidly across educational systems. Its primary contribution lies in documenting that support for bans is widespread and often stronger among parents, which has implications for policy adoption and sustainability. The large, multinational dataset supports broad descriptive generalizability across diverse jurisdictions. However, the reliance on cross-sectional survey data limits causal interpretation, and the findings do not speak to the effectiveness of bans on student outcomes. Future research would be strengthened by causal inference designs or randomized policy evaluations that link smartphone restrictions to academic performance, well-being, or behavioral change. As a complement to outcome-focused studies, this article clarifies the public opinion context in which school smartphone policies are being implemented.