Girls benefited the most from the policies.

"Banning smartphones significantly decreases the health care take-up for psychological symptoms and diseases among girls," Sara Sofie Abrahamsson, a postdoctoral researcher and the paper's sole author, wrote in the abstract. Post-ban bullying among both genders decreases."

The paper followed data from recent decades, mainly focusing on 2010 to 2020.

The researcher observed no negative impact from introducing such a policy.

"The phones are an absolute distraction. Even if a kid has the phone in their pocket during class, if the phone is on vibrate every time it vibrates, which is constantly, their mind automatically shifts away from what the teacher is teaching to the phone," Tom Kersting, a psychotherapist who was a school counselor for 25 years, told The Epoch Times in agreement with the report's findings.

As a proponent of banning phones in schools, Mr. Kersting suspected that Norway would see improvements in students' academics, mental health, and social and emotional skills.

Major Findings
There are no national guidelines on smartphone use in Norway. Instead, schools make their own decisions on whether to allow smartphones.

Therefore, Ms. Abrahamsson used a survey to collect data from Norwegian middle schools on smartphone use and whether and when they had introduced any smartphone regulations.

These data were then matched to a school's data, including student grades set by teachers and external exams, student GPAs, student visits to psychologists and general practitioners, and measurements for bullying.