Researchers in India conducted a randomized-control trial study with close to 17,000 at 10 colleges to test the impact of mandatory in-class phone collection versus unrestricted phone use. What do you think they found?
- The was a small but statistically significant increase in grades (0.086 SD).
- Effects were strongest for lower-achieving students, first-year students, and non-STEM majors.
- Students who experienced the benefits became more supportive of cell phone bans.
So, what does this mean for you? This report is a pre-print and has not yet undergone peer-review, and it is just one study. However, the sample size is large, and the findings are promising for supporting in-class phone collection policies. It’s worth discussing this with your students, particularly first-year students, to talk about the impact of distraction on learning. Just putting the phone away in their bags or setting it to silent does not provide the same relief from distraction as putting the phone in a box in the front of the classroom.
Read the full pre-print here:
Sungu, Alp and Choudhury, Pradeep Kumar and Bjerre-Nielsen, Andreas, Removing Phones from Classrooms Improves Academic Performance (July 25, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5370727