A group of researchers from the University of Milan-Bicocca and SUPSI, through longitudinal data provided by INVALSI (Italian Institute for the Evaluation of the Educational System), confirmed that early use of the smartphone before the age 12 brings no benefit. Instead, it is associated with lower digital skills, more problematic smartphone use, and may, in fact, decrease students’ academic performance.
MILAN, ITALY – Newsaktuell – January 29, 2024 – Intensive and premature smartphone use among children and pre-teens shows negative relationships with learning, digital skills, problematic smartphone use and active media use social. In particular, this reduces the academic performance of a significant part of the student population. Two studies from Milan-Bicocca and SUPSI corroborate these results using INVALSI data, also going beyond simple correlations.
The first study, entitled “The Smartphone Age: An Analysis of Social Predictors of Children’s Age of Access and Potential Consequences Over Time” and published in “Youth&Society”, studies the associations between age of access to the device and certain life outcomes in a representative sample of 3,247 Italian 10th grade students. While showing that girls and students from less-educated families are more likely to receive smartphones earlier, the study finds that early access to smartphones is negatively associated with adolescents’ healthy functioning at age 16 (even when controlling for a number of socio-economic variables). -economic). Delaying access also narrows the gender gap in language proficiency, digital skills and life satisfaction. The study was conducted by
Titian Gerosaresearcher at the University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI),
Marco Guidirector of the digital transformation and well-being laboratory of the University of Milan-Bicocca (department of sociology and social research) and
Lucilla Losipostdoctoral fellow and research assistant at the Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University.
The second study, entitled “Previous smartphone acquisition has a negative impact on language proficiency, but only for heavy media users. Results of a quasi-experimental longitudinal study” – authored by Tiziano Gerosa and Marco Gui – tested the main theoretical hypotheses regarding the role of smartphones in the learning process (both those that posit benefits and those that anticipate negative effects) using data longitudinal.
“This study is one of the first to look at the impact of early smartphone use on learning levels using a more sophisticated counterfactual design and nationally standardized testing,” explains Tiziano Gerosa. “This is in fact a quasi-experimental study which uses INVALSI longitudinal data on children and pre-adolescents passing from primary to the first cycle of secondary school. This methodology allows us to approach, although with certain hypotheses, a causal interpretation of the results.”
The research looked at an age range of 10 to 14 years, comparing those who acquired the device at ages 10 and 11, during the transition from primary to lower secondary school, to those who received it older later, more precisely at 12, 13 and 14 years old. 14 years old. The total sample consisted of 1,672 Italian lower secondary school students, with administrative information collected over time by the National Institute for the Evaluation of the Educational System (INVALSI).
The results indicate no benefit at the end of junior high school for those who obtained a smartphone early, even for the most academically motivated students. However, participants who developed heavy media usage habits before owning a smartphone (more than two hours per day of television and video games) experienced a significant negative impact on their Italian language learning. At the time of data collection, students using screens intensively – and therefore subject to the potential negative effects of smartphones – represented 23.5% of the Italian student population.
“These results not only confirm the existence of negative relationships between early smartphone use and long-term life outcomes – says Marco Gui – but also show that behind such correlations lies a direct negative impact, which becomes visible to people with reduced abilities. to limit the time spent in front of a screen due to family context or specific psychological characteristics.
There has long been significant debate about the impact of digital media use on juvenile development. The literature has already identified a negative relationship between early and excessive smartphone use and academic performance, but complaints have often been made about the lack of more robust scientific evidence beyond simple correlations.
Further research on this topic is underway at the Milano-Bicocca Institute.Digital Transformation and Wellbeing Lab‘, in collaboration with the University of Brescia and local associations (Sloworking and Socialis). In particular, the
EYES UP Project (EarlY Exposure to Screens and Unequal Performance) aims to analyze the impact of a range of devices and early online experiences on learning levels throughout students’ academic journey, from elementary to high school.
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