Social media is hurting your kid’s test scores, researchers say

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Social media is hurting your kid’s test scores, researchers say
Story by Julia Musto
The Indpendent (via MSN)
Oct. 14, 2025

Social media use is hurting your kid’s grades - and it doesn’t matter how long they are spending on devices each day, new research warns.

Just an hour spent on an app daily can knock down test scores by one or two points, for students between the ages of nine and 13, doctors at UC San Francisco found in new research.

However, students who spent as many as four hours a day on social media saw up to a five-point drop on their tests.

"That really speaks to the dosage effect of these [apps]," psychologist Sheri Madigan, who wrote an accompanying editorial for the study, explained. “It's problematic at really high uses, but it's also problematic at even in small doses."

That’s bad news for students who already have trouble performing academically.

Scores in reading and math have taken a dip across the country since the pandemic, and a recent Arizona State University report found the average American student is “less than halfway to a full academic recovery.” ...

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