Cellphone ownership linked to lower reading comprehension in children, study finds

A new study from UCLA psychologists suggests that the key factor linking cellphones to lower academic performance in elementary school may be something simpler than distraction: the mere ownership of a phone. The findings, published in Behavioral Sciences, add to a surprisingly thin experimental literature on how mobile devices relate to reading comprehension in young children.

Researchers examined whether acquiring a cellphone is negatively associated with reading comprehension scores among third- and sixth-grade students. The study was motivated by the broader concern that phones could reduce concentration during academic tasks, yet the existing evidence in elementary settings has been limited.

To test this directly, the team recruited culturally and linguistically diverse children from Antelope Valley public schools and Coptic Church schools in Los Angeles County. In both contexts, phones were normally permitted, allowing researchers to observe ownership and typical device access under realistic conditions.

Children were given short reading passages and then assessed on what they understood. Importantly, the study distinguished between students who owned a cellphone and those who did not, and it also considered whether a phone was present at school during testing.

The results showed a statistically significant relationship between owning a personal cellphone and lower reading comprehension. Children with phones demonstrated poorer comprehension than children without phones, even after accounting for whether they spoke English at home.

Notably, the negative association persisted regardless of whether the phone was brought into the testing environment. When researchers evaluated immediate device presence—such as whether phones were on desks or out of sight—they found no meaningful difference in reading comprehension scores.

The study also addressed a potential mechanism: notifications and interruptions. However, during testing, children received almost no notifications, limiting the ability to attribute the effect specifically to alert-driven distraction.

The age at which children first acquired a phone did not correlate with reading comprehension skill. Still, there was a nuanced result for students from non-English-speaking homes: earlier texting onset was linked to improved reading comprehension, with effects emerging over time.

Overall, while the data do not support an academic advantage of school bans through sixth grade, the authors argue that banning phones may still benefit social development by increasing face-to-face interactions—a question that future research should test.