What parents need to know
Nonacademic internet use was common among students with laptops in class and inversely related to class performance. This held true even accounting for motivation, interest, and intelligence. Class-related internet use showed no benefit to performance. Laptops in class = distraction, not learning.
Full Citation
Ravizza, S.M., Uitvlugt, M.G., & Fenn, K.M. (2017). Logged In and Zoned Out: How Laptop Internet Use Relates to Classroom Learning. Psychological Science, 28(2), 171-180.
Publication Type
Peer-reviewed research study published in Psychological Science
What They Studied
Researchers at Michigan State University tracked actual laptop usage during university lectures, monitoring both how much time students spent on non-academic internet activities and how this related to their academic performance in the course. The study controlled for student motivation, interest in the course material, and general cognitive ability to isolate the specific effect of laptop distraction.
Key Findings
- “Our results showed that nonacademic Internet use was common among students who brought laptops to class and was inversely related to class performance”
- “This relationship was upheld after we accounted for motivation, interest, and intelligence”
- Importantly, “Class-related Internet use was not associated with a benefit to classroom performance”
- Even when students used laptops for class-related activities, there was no measurable benefit
- The study found that students spent substantial time during lectures on social media, email, shopping, and video watching
- Jean Twenge references this study in The New York Times: “One study of Michigan State college students – nearly all legal adults presumably more capable of focusing their attention than young teens – found that they spent nearly 40 percent of class time scrolling social media, checking email or watching videos on their laptops – anything but their classwork”
- 40% of class time off-task means students miss substantial instruction
- The negative relationship held even for motivated, intelligent students who were interested in the course
- This suggests the problem isn’t just unmotivated students – even engaged students cannot resist laptop distraction
- If college students struggle with self-regulation, expecting younger children to succeed is unrealistic
- The finding that even class-related internet use provided no benefit questions the entire premise of “laptops for learning”
