As schools increasingly move to ban smartphones in classrooms, new research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) suggests that there may be a more effective way to boost focus and academic engagement.  

In a study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, RPI Assistant Professor of Economics Billur Aksoy, Ph.D., and a team of researchers found that students who used the behavioral app Pocket Points, which rewarded them for staying off their phones during class, reported fewer distractions, greater academic satisfaction, and better attendance. The researchers also found suggestive evidence of modest grade improvements among app users. In addition, students who used the app regularly spent fewer hours studying outside of class, particularly on campus, suggesting they may have been absorbing material more effectively during lectures.

“Smartphone use is deeply ingrained into our daily lives, which makes it difficult to simply remove it from the classroom environment, especially for young adults balancing multiple responsibilities,” said Aksoy. “Our study shows that giving students a behavioral incentive to reduce phone use can improve focus in class and lead to a more satisfying academic experience.”

Aksoy is an experimental economist and teaches both behavioral financial economics and experimental economics at RPI. Her research focuses on how identity and technology can influence economic behavior.

Beyond the immediate results, this study points to broader implications for using behavioral apps to improve focus and self-regulation in other areas of life. The researchers note that bans, whether in classrooms, workplaces, or on the road, can be difficult to implement and often miss the underlying issue: the challenge of self-control in a hyper-connected world.  

Instead, digital tools that offer small rewards for staying off the phone may help people build better habits in a range of contexts. For example, Pocket Points and similar apps like Hold, Lock&Stock, and Forest have features aimed at encouraging users to unplug while working, driving, or studying.  

The findings suggest that incentive-based and voluntary commitment tools could offer a scalable way to support healthier phone use not only in schools, but across daily life. This approach may help inform policies in education and beyond, offering practical, user-friendly alternatives to outright bans.

“With the rise of smartphone use, we are all facing real challenges with focus and attention,” said Aksoy. “Banning phones might offer a short-term fix in some settings, but it doesn’t give people the skills or the tools they need. Tools that leverage insights from behavioral economics, however, have the potential to help students build self-control and healthy habits that will likely stay with them beyond the school day, throughout life.”

“Dr. Aksoy’s research is at the cutting edge of behavioral economics and reflects RPI’s spirit of innovation and problem-solving,” said Vivek Ghosal, Ph.D., RPI professor and head of the Department of Economics. “This work provides practical strategies to help students succeed in a technology-driven world and paves the way for smarter, more effective integration of digital tools in education and beyond.”

The full study, titled “Reducing Phone Distraction in the Classroom: Evidence from a Field Experiment,” is available online at ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016726812500201X?via%3Dihub