Feb 4, 2025 - Health

Teens spent a quarter of the school day on their phones: study

Tina Reed

Illustration of a hand holding a phone with a chalkboard screen with the works "I will not use my phone" repeated in chalk across it — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

As more schools eye bans on smartphones, a new study finds the average teen with a smartphone is spending nearly a quarter of the school day texting, streaming or scrolling through sites like Instagram.

Why it matters: To understand the risks of too much screen time, researchers say, it's important not just to tally the hours kids spend on devices but to consider what activities are being displaced — in this case, learning.

What they found: The study led by Seattle Children's Research Institute tracked 117 kids ages 13 to 18 who owned a smartphone and had them download an app to measure their usage.

The teens spent an average of 1.5 hours on their smartphones during a 6.5-hour school day over two study periods in 2023, the researchers wrote in JAMA Pediatrics. 1 in 4 teens spent more than two hours on their phone during the school day.
Whole-day phone use averaged 5.6 hours.

What were they doing? The top five most-used apps were messaging, Instagram, video streaming, audio and email.

Reality check: Since the study only focused on smartphone use, researchers said, these numbers likely underestimated overall screen use.

The big picture: While the pandemic is often blamed for exacerbating the youth mental health crisis, a growing body of research links the intensifying crisis to the arrival of the smartphone.

Social media might make them stressed and depressed, but the hours they're spending online keeps rising.

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Teens spent a quarter of the school day on their phones: study

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