As concerns over children’s screen addiction grow, a new study suggests that allowing students brief phone breaks in the classroom can actually improve their performance and reduce overall phone use, researchers reported on Wednesday.
A team of U.S. researchers conducted a semester-long experiment, revealing that college students who were given just one-minute phone breaks during class used their phones less and scored higher on tests.
“We found that technology breaks can help curb phone use in college classrooms,” said Professor Ryan Redner from Southern Illinois University, lead author of the study published in Frontiers in Education. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effect of technology breaks in a college setting.”
The study showed that test scores were consistently higher—above 80 percent—when students were given one-minute breaks. The researchers believe this suggests students were less distracted during lectures, leading to better performance.
In today’s classrooms, where phones are typically banned due to their distracting nature, students report using them up to 10 times a day for non-academic purposes. However, the study tested the impact of one, two, or four-minute breaks during lectures over the course of a full term.
During these breaks, students were not permitted to use their phones but were encouraged to ask questions. These breaks occurred 15 minutes into the lecture. The researchers found that one-minute breaks were the most effective in reducing phone use.
“When the breaks lasted just one minute, students used their phones less overall,” said Redner. “It may be that one minute is enough to quickly check messages without getting sucked into longer conversations, which could reduce distractions during the rest of the lecture.”
The findings suggest that structured phone breaks may help manage device use, ultimately improving students’ focus and academic outcomes.
