Headline Roundup • July 30th, 2026
Study Suggests Phone Ownership, Rather Than Classroom Distraction, Linked to Lower Reading Scores
Summary from the AllSides News Team
UCLA researchers and psychologists found that elementary school students who own cell phones scored worse on reading comprehension tests than their peers without cell phones. The study was not widely covered by mainstream media, though some local outlets and outlets focused on health or education did report it.
The Details: The study examined third and sixth graders, some of whom owned phones and some of whom did not. The students with phones were split into groups in which half of the students kept their phones on their desks while taking a reading comprehension test while the other half left their phones at home. Though researchers found no difference in scores between the students with their phones present versus those whose phones were at home, there was a consistent difference between the group of students who owned phones at all and those who did not. Researchers concluded that the issue was not, in fact, in-class distraction from phones, but owning the phone at all.
One Exception: Both New York Post (Lean Right) and US News & World Report (Lean Left) noted that students who did not speak English at home actually benefitted from owning cell phones earlier. One researcher said, "If you have a phone and if you're from a family where English is not spoken at home, it's better for reading comprehension to start texting earlier rather than later. In fact, when students from Arabic- or Spanish-speaking homes began to text in second or third grade, by sixth grade they had reading comprehension scores similar to their peers who still did not have phones."
How the Media Covered It: New York Post and US News & World Report both included the details of the study and thoroughly quoted the researchers' findings and conclusions. New York Post wrote that even though banning cell phones from elementary school classrooms may not improve reading comprehension alone, there are still social benefits to eliminating devices from classrooms.
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Giving your grade-schooler a cellphone could be hurting their ability to read—even if the device never leaves the house, according to a new study.
Researchers found elementary school children who owned their own phones consistently scored worse on reading comprehension tests than classmates without one, with the gap showing up whether the devices were sitting on a desk, stashed in a backpack or left at home.
Cell phones could be blunting young children's reading skills, a new study says.
Elementary school students who simply owned a cell phone scored worse on reading comprehension tests, researchers reported recently in the journal Behavioral Sciences.
