Peer-reviewed article
Longitudinal effect of early social media use on standardized learning outcomes during school career.
Gui M, Respi C, Abbiati G, Paladini C, Ercolanoni S et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how early adoption of social media affects academic performance in Italian children aged 7-16 years. Researchers followed 5,227 students and compared those who started using social media in grades 6-8 with those who started later. The research found that early social media use negatively affects standardized test scores in Italian, English and mathematics, with smartphone use during key parts of the day partly explaining this negative effect.
Key points
- Early social media adoption (grades 6-8) compared to late adoption (grade 9+) adversely affects learning outcomes
- Negative effects were observed across multiple subjects: Italian, English, and mathematics standardized tests
- A substantial portion of the negative effect is mediated by smartphone pervasiveness during key moments of the day
- The study used difference-in-differences models with matched comparison groups to evaluate impact
Limitations
The study is limited to children in northern Italy and may not generalise to other regions or countries with different digital adoption patterns or educational contexts. The document does not provide information on the magnitude of the negative effects or potential moderating factors such as socioeconomic status or parental involvement.
Abstract
This study uses difference-in-differences models to evaluate the impact of early social media use on academic performance among children aged 7-16 years. A dataset comprising 5,227 students from northern Italy was constructed by merging data from a questionnaire on lifetime digital media habits with longitudinal standardized test scores in Italian, English and mathematics. Participants who created a personal social media account in 6th, 7th or 8th grade were separately matched with late adopters who initiated their first social media account in the 9th grade or later. The findings provide compelling evidence that early engagement with social media adversely affects learning outcomes. Additional findings on the effects of early social media use on other academic outcomes for which we do not have longitudinal data are in line with our main findings. We also find supporting evidence that a substantial part of this negative effect is mediated by students' smartphone pervasiveness in key moments of the day.