Mental Health

A new matched-comparison US study also lands null on school phone bans

2026-08-03 · part of Social Media Fight

What happened

The first US study to test school phone bans' effect on youth mental health with a causal matched-comparison design (states whose pre-ban trends match the treated states) found no evidence bans reduced screentime or improved any of eight psychological wellbeing measures. Preliminary — only three states have enough post-ban data yet — but a genuine methodological upgrade that lands in the same place as the existing null studies below. (ProMarket) (wave: mh-q08)

Sources 1

ProMarket promarket.org unrated

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