Syracuse Sun

School districts and the U.S. Surgeon General are taking action to curb the negative effects of social media on teens. This month, Los Angeles school district officials approved a ban on cell phone use and social media limitations during school hours. The U.S. Surgeon General also renewed calls for adding warning labels to social media platforms to address concerns about youth mental health.

Matthew Mulvaney, an associate professor in Human Development and Family Science at Syracuse University’s Falk College, commented on these developments. Dr. Mulvaney’s research focuses on the determinants and outcomes of parenting processes, specifically informal educational practices by parents, parental discipline, and parenting beliefs.

Mulvaney stated: “The considerations by the Los Angeles Unified School District are a positive step forward to improving the academic success and mental health of its students. It indicates that educational policymakers are beginning to respond to the emerging scientific consensus that the use of cellphones (particularly social media on cell phones) is producing negative attentional and educational outcomes for young people. When the surgeon general of the United States is recommending that warning labels be affixed to social media, it is critical that all youth-serving contexts take notice and that school districts, in particular, take into account this emerging challenge to young people’s mental health and schooling success in structuring their schools.”

He further elaborated: “What is so beneficial about school district approaches is the recognition that individual-level interventions to reduce cell phone use are so challenging. Reducing smartphone usage among individual youth when their friends still have them and use them regularly is near impossible. It really requires intervention at the broader level to produce an environment in which the overall use of social media is reduced and so schools represent perhaps the best context to address this challenge to youth well-being in a unique way.”

Mulvaney also highlighted specific benefits related to classroom learning: “While schools can take the lead in reducing screentime, which will have broad-based benefits in terms of mental health, the benefits are even more specific to the classroom learning context. The link between attention and learning is so clear from the research and I would daresay research isn’t even really needed to demonstrate just how reduced attention to the present social context is when people are using their cell phones. As a teacher myself, I see on a day-to-day basis the challenges that students have in learning when distracted by phones and computers. Education requires being in the present and engaging with complex material and phones work directly against that."

“One of the perhaps underappreciated implications of this approach," he added, "is the potential to reduce ethnic and class disparities in educational outcomes... African American and Hispanic teens spend much more time on social media and so a widespread ban may disproportionately serve to support those students who will benefit most from a focus on in-person schooling."

Mulvaney acknowledged potential challenges: “As with any broad-based change that affects a wide number of students and families, there are likely to be challenges... Parent and student resistance will exist... smartphones have become so integrated into our lives... I also think it will be a lot like vaping where there is simply widespread disregard for school rules.”

Despite these challenges, Mulvaney concluded: “On the whole though, this intervention may potentially have long-lasting and substantial beneficial impacts on LA Unified School District students... Removing these substantial barriers to education may be a critical intervention that will improve well-being generally.”

For interviews or more information:

Daryl Lovell

Associate Director of Media Relations

Division of Communications

M 315-380-0206

dalovell@syr.edu | @DarylLovell

Syracuse University