“Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: Study Finds Alarming Results for Children in Elementary and Junior High Schools”

PRESIDENT Online

2023/05/14 13:00

Nearly 70% of children in the upper grades of elementary school now have their own smartphones and are enthusiastic about SNS, online videos, and games. Kohei Sakaki of the Institute of Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, who has investigated the relationship between smartphone use and academic performance among 70,000 elementary and junior high school students in Sendai City, said, “When I graphed the smartphone usage time and the deviation value of the test, The shocking fact was that children who used more than 3 hours a day had lower grades than average, even if they studied hard and got enough sleep.”

*This article is written by Kohei Sakaki (author) and Ryuta Kawashima (editor)How far do smartphones damage the brain?](Asahi Shinsho) is a re-edited part.

Children’s brains are developing rapidly, so the impact of smartphones is noticeable

What kind of impact does the rapidly progressing smartphone society have on the brain? At the Institute of Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, we have been studying the effects on brain development in children for more than 15 years. There are several reasons for targeting children, one of which is that children’s brains are in the process of rapid development, so the effects of smartphones are likely to appear.

Since 2010, Tohoku University’s Institute of Aging and Cancer has conducted a large-scale survey (a project related to scientific research on “willingness to learn”) targeting approximately 70,000 elementary and junior high school students in Sendai City in collaboration with the Sendai City Board of Education. is being implemented. In this project, we will use the indicators of academic ability collected from the standard academic achievement test and the data on learning and lifestyle habits collected from the questionnaire survey that was conducted at the same time to scientifically understand the learning and lifestyle habits related to children’s learning motivation and academic ability. We aim to clarify the

I have been a member of the project committee since 2015 and have been in charge of large-scale data analysis. The results of our analysis have highlighted the terrifying reality that smartphones are “destroying” children’s academic abilities.

If you don’t buy a smartphone for your child, will you get above average grades?

How does smartphone usage affect children’s academic performance?

[Chart 1]shows the relationship between the amount of time spent using smartphones, etc., and academic achievement. The vertical axis is the deviation value calculated from the standard academic achievement test, and the average score for children is 50. The horizontal axis shows the amount of time spent using smartphones, etc. for purposes other than studying on weekdays.

The actual question was, “How much time do you usually use a device that can connect to the Internet (smartphone, tablet, music player, game console, etc.) per day (Monday to Friday) other than studying?” . Internet connections using devices other than smartphones, such as computers and tablets, are also included, but in reality, smartphone use is the majority, so from now on, we will use “smartphones, etc.” as a representative.

Let’s look at the bar graphs from left to right to see what can be read from the graphs. On the far left are the children who answered that they did not have a smartphone, etc., with a deviation value of 51.3, exceeding the average score. If parents don’t buy their kids smartphones in the first place, they’re likely to get above-average grades.