Overview
- Researchers report that in-school phone activity fell sharply after Florida’s 2023 restrictions, confirming enforcement changed student behavior.
- Test score improvements emerged in the second year and were small on average—about a percentile point—with larger gains in schools that had higher pre-ban phone use and among older students.
- Unexcused absences declined after the ban, with the attendance improvement concentrated in middle and high schools.
- Disciplinary actions spiked during initial enforcement, with a pronounced increase in suspensions—especially for Black students—before returning to prior levels in year two.
- The analysis relies on Advan smartphone-activity data from one large district and is a non–peer-reviewed NBER working paper; Florida further tightened its law in July 2025 and roughly 30 states plus D.C. now restrict student phone use.