Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: First Evidence from Longitudinal Data

Simon Amez, Sunčica Vujić (), Lieven De Marez () and Stijn Baert
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Lieven De Marez: Ghent University

No 12862, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: To study the causal impact of smartphone use on academic performance, we collected – for the first time worldwide – longitudinal data on students' smartphone use and educational performance. For three consecutive years we surveyed all students attending classes in eleven different study programmes at two Belgian universities on general smartphone use and other drivers of academic achievement. These survey data were merged with the exam scores of these students. We analysed the resulting data by means of panel data random effects estimation controlling for unobserved individual characteristics. A one standard deviation increase in overall smartphone use results in a decrease of 0.349 points (out of 20) and a decrease of 2.616 percentage points in the fraction of exams passed.

Keywords: longitudinal data; academic performance; smartphone use; causality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-pay and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published - revised version published in: New Media & Society , 2023, 25(3), 584-608.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: First Evidence from Longitudinal Data (2019)
Working Paper: Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: First Evidence from Longitudinal Data (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12862

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