Grant: Project Grant

Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in mental distress among adolescents, leading several public health institutions to warn of a teen mental health crisis. The use of smartphones and social media, which have become ubiquitous in teens' lives, have been at the forefront of the debate over the causes of this troubling trend. Although smartphones can increase teens' connectedness and access to information, problematic use can harm their academic performance, increase social isolation and exposure to bullying, and potentially worsen health behaviors. As a result, some schools prohibit the use of smartphones and, recently, governments at provincial/state and federal levels have begun to restrict the use of smartphones in schools. This includes most Canadian provinces, which introduced bans on smartphone use in schools in 2024. Evidence on the impact of these policies, however, is extremely limited. In this study, we aim to address this gap by examining the impact of government restrictions on smartphones use in schools on adolescents' use of phones and social media, and their mental health and well-being. In the first part of this study, we will use data from school-based surveys conducted in Europe, central Asia, and Canada before and after the implementation of school smartphone restrictions to measure their population-level effects. In the second part, we will engage with youth in Canadian provinces that have implemented smartphone restrictions to understand how these policies have affected their use of social networking and gaming, as well as their well-being. Since gender and social disadvantage are related to patterns of smartphone use and mental health in adolescence, we will look at whether the impact of smartphone bans differ across subgroups. Our results will help to inform the public and policymakers about the effects of restricting smartphone use in schools and help to inform policy for improving adolescent mental health and well-being.