UNESCO recommends that phones be banned from schools as they distract students and have a negative impact on their learning.

The United Nations’ education, science and culture agency says that even having a phone nearby when notifications are coming through is enough to break students’ concentration, with one study showing that it can take up to 20 minutes to refocus on learning.

Large-scale international testing data like the Programme for International Student Assessment¹ suggests there is a negative link between excessive technology use and student performance, UNESCO argues in its Global Education Monitoring report.

There needs to be clear guidelines for technology’s use in educational settings to ensure it avoids harm to students’ health and to society at large, says UNESCO. And countries need to make it clearer which technology devices are allowed in schools and which are not.