Bans on smartphone and social media access alone fail to equip children for healthy use of such technology, according to analysis by international experts who say curbs are being applied “despite a lack of evidence on their effects”.
“Prescribing abstinence from all technologies to protect against harms is unrealistic and potentially detrimental in a society where technology use is a practical necessity and confers various benefits, including information access and social support,” says the study published by the British Medical Journal on Thursday.
While technology-free moments and spaces are important for children, the authors say blanket restrictions are “stop-gap solutions that do little to support children’s longer-term healthy engagement with digital spaces” and their “successful transition into adolescence and adulthood in a technology-filled world”.
The research overview by six international experts from the UK, US, Sweden and Brazil recommends schools, teachers and parents instead be given training and guidance to help them be actively involved in development of children’s healthy technology use and in shaping future policies and approaches.
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Reviewing 22 previous studies, they analysed the impact of school phone policies on health and wellbeing, including school-based research on wellbeing and social media. They also looked at links between screen use, social media and mental health in adolescence and evaluated interventions and guidance for schools, families and industry.
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Legislation for the technology industry needs to be grounded in children’s rights, say the authors. The focus “should shift to a rights-based approach, underpinned by age-appropriate design and education, that protects children from harm while developing skills to help them participate in a digital society,” the study states.
Bans on smartphone and social media access have been advocated in many countries to protect children from harm, including in Irish schools. The Government is to press ahead with plans to spend €9 million on smartphone pouches to facilitate a ban at second level, Minister for Education Helen McEntee said last month, despite separate research showing banning phones in schools is not linked to pupils getting higher grades or having better mental health.
The researchers, led by Dr Victoria A Goodyear of the Institute for Mental Health at the University of Birmingham in England, note that bans and restrictions have been successfully used for public health issues such as smoking.
“But smoking is not comparable with smartphone and social media use because the harms from smoking are extensive, clear cut, and by far outweigh the benefits.”
A recent evaluation of school smartphone policies in England reported that restricted use in schools was not associated with benefits to adolescent mental health and wellbeing, physical activity and sleep, educational attainment or classroom behaviour. It also found no evidence of school restrictions being associated with lower levels of overall phone use or problematic social media use.
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Other studies, however, provide strong evidence on the harms caused by excessive smartphone/social media use, specifically by adolescents.
Doctors, through the Irish Medical Organisation, last year called for a government ban on mobile phone use for all children under the age of 16, as smartphones and the social media content accessible on them are “overwhelmingly destructive” to children, it noted.
The BMJ study calls for a rights-based approach to smartphone and social media use, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recommends ways of protecting children from harm while nurturing the healthy development of smartphone and social media use.
The authors acknowledge several potential challenges to a rights-based approach but add, in the longer term, this approach is likely to be more beneficial and sustainable as it is focused on building a safe ecosystem in a digital society.
“Ultimately, there is a need to shift debates, policies, and practices from a sole focus on restricting smartphone and social media access toward an emphasis on nurturing children’s skills for healthy technology use.”
