SAL 3.05, 3rd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH

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About this event

I provide quasi-experimental evidence on the effect of delaying children's smartphone ownership through a community-led policy. Since 2024, the Smartphone Free Childhood movement has coordinated UK families through a 'Parent Pact' to delay a child's first smartphone until age 14. Using a matched difference-in-differences design, I compare changes in children's mental-health needs across English schools. Treated schools are those where at least one fifth of families signed the pact. Control schools are similar schools where fewer than 5 percent signed. I find that mental-health special needs measured by schools fall by about 8 percent relative to control schools. Similarly, mental-health disability needs independently measured by the Department for Work and Pensions fall by about 6 percent relative to similar communities. The effects are driven by younger children, who are less likely to already own a phone. I also find that by the second year, pupils' illness absence and teacher turnover decline by 7 and 12 percent, respectively. The findings support coordinated ownership delay as a near-zero-cost complement to school phone bans and statutory age limits. They also give parents causal evidence for delaying a child's first smartphone through the primary-school years.

This event will take place in SAL 3.05, 3rd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.

The building is labelled SAL on the map. Enter the building via Lincoln's Inn Fields.