The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated: Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated : Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study. / Bjerre-Nielsen, Andreas; Andersen, Asger; Minor, Kelton; Lassen, David Dreyer.

In: Psychological Science, Vol. 31, No. 11, 2020, p. 1351-1362.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Bjerre-Nielsen, A, Andersen, A, Minor, K & Lassen, DD 2020, 'The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated: Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study', Psychological Science, vol. 31, no. 11, pp. 1351-1362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620956613

APA

Bjerre-Nielsen, A., Andersen, A., Minor, K., & Lassen, D. D. (2020). The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated: Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study. Psychological Science, 31(11), 1351-1362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620956613

Vancouver

Bjerre-Nielsen A, Andersen A, Minor K, Lassen DD. The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated: Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study. Psychological Science. 2020;31(11):1351-1362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620956613

Author

Bjerre-Nielsen, Andreas ; Andersen, Asger ; Minor, Kelton ; Lassen, David Dreyer. / The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated : Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study. In: Psychological Science. 2020 ; Vol. 31, No. 11. pp. 1351-1362.

Bibtex

@article{e7aaf97e3527460ca7504b6c2f8c7d52,
title = "The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated: Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study",
abstract = "In this study, we monitored 470 university students{\textquoteright} smartphone usage continuously over 2 years to assess the relationship between in-class smartphone use and academic performance. We used a novel data set in which smartphone use and grades were recorded across multiple courses, allowing us to examine this relationship at the student level and the student-in-course level. In accordance with the existing literature, our results showed that students{\textquoteright} in-class smartphone use was negatively associated with their grades, even when we controlled for a broad range of observed student characteristics. However, the magnitude of the association decreased substantially in a fixed-effects model, which leveraged the panel structure of the data to control for all stable student and course characteristics, including those not observed by researchers. This suggests that the size of the effect of smartphone usage on academic performance has been overestimated in studies that controlled for only observed student characteristics.",
keywords = "academic performance, attention, distraction, in-class concentration, mobile devices, multitasking, open materials, productivity",
author = "Andreas Bjerre-Nielsen and Asger Andersen and Kelton Minor and Lassen, {David Dreyer}",
year = "2020",
doi = "10.1177/0956797620956613",
language = "English",
volume = "31",
pages = "1351--1362",
journal = "Psychological Science",
issn = "0956-7976",
publisher = "SAGE Publications",
number = "11",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Negative Effect of Smartphone Use on Academic Performance May Be Overestimated

T2 - Evidence From a 2-Year Panel Study

AU - Bjerre-Nielsen, Andreas

AU - Andersen, Asger

AU - Minor, Kelton

AU - Lassen, David Dreyer

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - In this study, we monitored 470 university students’ smartphone usage continuously over 2 years to assess the relationship between in-class smartphone use and academic performance. We used a novel data set in which smartphone use and grades were recorded across multiple courses, allowing us to examine this relationship at the student level and the student-in-course level. In accordance with the existing literature, our results showed that students’ in-class smartphone use was negatively associated with their grades, even when we controlled for a broad range of observed student characteristics. However, the magnitude of the association decreased substantially in a fixed-effects model, which leveraged the panel structure of the data to control for all stable student and course characteristics, including those not observed by researchers. This suggests that the size of the effect of smartphone usage on academic performance has been overestimated in studies that controlled for only observed student characteristics.

AB - In this study, we monitored 470 university students’ smartphone usage continuously over 2 years to assess the relationship between in-class smartphone use and academic performance. We used a novel data set in which smartphone use and grades were recorded across multiple courses, allowing us to examine this relationship at the student level and the student-in-course level. In accordance with the existing literature, our results showed that students’ in-class smartphone use was negatively associated with their grades, even when we controlled for a broad range of observed student characteristics. However, the magnitude of the association decreased substantially in a fixed-effects model, which leveraged the panel structure of the data to control for all stable student and course characteristics, including those not observed by researchers. This suggests that the size of the effect of smartphone usage on academic performance has been overestimated in studies that controlled for only observed student characteristics.

KW - academic performance

KW - attention

KW - distraction

KW - in-class concentration

KW - mobile devices

KW - multitasking

KW - open materials

KW - productivity

U2 - 10.1177/0956797620956613

DO - 10.1177/0956797620956613

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33021885

AN - SCOPUS:85092162599

VL - 31

SP - 1351

EP - 1362

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

SN - 0956-7976

IS - 11

ER -

ID: 250125025