October 10, 2025

expert reaction to study of screen time and academic achievement

A study published in JAMA Network Open looks at screen time and academic achievement tests.

Prof Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, said:

“This study claims to find correlations between screentime and lower reading/maths scores among youth.  However, the data from this study doesn’t support that argument.  The effect sizes reported are very near zero, the sort we commonly find due to statistical noise, and should never have been interpreted as supporting hypothesized links between screen time and outcomes.  This is a common error in social science and can result in considerable confusion.  Unfortunately, we’re in a period of moral panic which often produces a tendency for studies to report weak results as meaningful when the real-world implications are much less certain.  The authors also only cite evidence linking screentime to cognitive outcomes negatively, failing to cite studies that find no or positive effects.  Many studies, including studies of higher quality than this one, have found no evidence screentime influences school outcomes, so we need to look at the totality of evidence. Put simply, this study provides little real evidence for a link between screentime and school performance in youth.  Youth school performance tends to remain stable over time and this study supports that.”

‘Screen Time and Standardized Academic Achievement Tests in Elementary School’ by Xuedi Li et al. was published in JAMA Network Open at 16:00 UK time on Friday 10^th October.

DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.37092 

Declared interests

Prof Chris Ferguson: I have no conflicts of interest to declare.