Christian Schools with Strict Cell Phone Policies Report Better Student Mental Health: Study

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A growing body of research in recent years has linked teen cell phone use to poorer mental health outcomes – and now a study of Christian schools suggests a similar pattern.

The Association of Christian Schools International and the School Counseling Mental Health Initiative at Denver Seminary surveyed Christian school educators and found that 80 percent rated their students’ mental health as “good” or “excellent.” Notably, schools that restricted cell phone use were much more likely than those without such a policy to give students a favorable mental health grade.

In fact, 98 percent of schools that rated their students’ mental health as good or excellent had a restrictive cell phone policy – and the strongest results came from perhaps the most stringent approach: requiring students to turn in their phones.

“The response option that was most highly correlated with respondents’ perception of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ student mental health was collecting phones at the start of each day and returning them at the end,” the study found.

Nearly one-third (30 percent) of Christian schools that rated their students' mental health favorably took cell phones from students at the beginning of each day. Another 16 percent collected phones at the beginning of each class but handed them back after class, while 21 percent allowed students to keep phones but restricted their use to breaks, lunch, and recess. A little over one in 10 schools (13 percent) prohibited cell phones entirely on campus.

“Educators at schools with cell phone policies were much more likely to report higher perceptions of overall student mental health,” the study found.

The research mirrored similar studies. For example, data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort – which followed nearly 12,000 children over three years – found that social media use during early adolescence was associated with greater depressive symptoms one year later. Other research has shown that adolescents who own smartphones early in life are at higher risk for depression and poor sleep compared with peers without early ownership.

In 2024, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that social media can harm young people’s mental health and urged stronger safeguards to protect kids and teens online.

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Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Drazen Zigic

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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