UCLA Study Finds Children's Mobile Phones Lower Reading Comprehension

A UCLA research team studied 106 elementary‑school students in Antelope Valley and Coptic‑Christian schools in Los Angeles County. The children, ranging from third to sixth grade and speaking English, Arabic or Spanish at home, were tested on short passages and comprehension questions. Those who owned a personal smartphone scored significantly lower on reading‑comprehension tests than peers without a phone, regardless of whether the device was present in the classroom, the child's age, or how long they had owned it. The effect persisted even when the phone was removed from the testing environment, suggesting that mere ownership—not immediate distraction—impairs concentration, possibly due to nomophobia.

The study, published in the journal *Behavioral Sciences*, found no age at which phone ownership is safe. An exception emerged for children from non‑English‑speaking homes who began texting early; they performed on par with peers without phones. Researchers highlighted the broader debate on school mobile‑phone bans, noting that many countries, including Spain, have restricted phone use in classrooms, but the UCLA findings indicate that ownership itself may be the critical factor affecting reading development.