These days, it's not uncommon to see a baby swiping her little finger across the screen of a tablet, or a third-grader engrossed in a game on his smartphone as he walks down the street.
It seems so wrong — but do we know that it is?
Actually, we do. A new study by the London School of Economics found that schools that ban students from carrying phones see a clear improvement in test scores.
The study involved 130,000 students at 91 schools in England since 2001. Researchers found that, following a cellphone ban, overall test scores on a national exam improved by 6.4%; for underachieving students, the effect was much more drastic, as their test scores rose by 14%.
"We found the impact of banning phones for these students equivalent to an additional hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by five days," researchers Richard Murphy and Louis-Philippe Beland told CNN.
"Schools could significantly reduce the education achievement gap by prohibiting mobile phone use in schools," they concluded.
What do you think of banning smartphones at your child's school?
Photo Credit: Stocksy
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