米兰比可卡大学研究团队近日在《自然-人类行为》期刊发表论文，通过对意大利北部28所学校的5227名学生进行调查，发现青少年注册社交媒体的时间越早，其学业成绩表现越差[1]。研究数据显示，在六年级（11-12岁）开设账户的学生到十年级时，意大利语成绩相比九年级及更晚注册的学生低0.22个标准差，数学成绩低0.27个标准差[1]。考虑到0.2个标准差相当于6个月的学校教育时间，这一差距具有实质性意义[1]。
随着开设账户年级的推后，学业成绩的差异逐步缩小[1]。七年级开设账户的学生差异较小，意大利语低0.17个标准差，数学低0.22个标准差；八年级开设账户的学生两门学科成绩均仅低0.11个标准差[1]。值得注意的是，研究未在英语分数上发现类似的负面关联[1]。
研究团队指出，这种学业成绩下滑可能与过度使用社交媒体导致注意力受到干扰有关[1]。调查还发现，频繁查看手机的学生更容易较早开设社交媒体账户，同时这类学生面临的父母监督也相对较少[1]。
A study published in Nature Human Behaviour has found that adolescents who register for social media accounts earlier experience worse academic outcomes [1]. Researchers from Milan Bicocca University, including Marco Gui and Chiara Respi, surveyed 5,227 Italian students and discovered significant performance gaps correlated with the timing of account creation [1]. Students who opened social media accounts in sixth grade—at ages 11 to 12—demonstrated Italian language scores 0.22 standard deviations lower and mathematics scores 0.27 standard deviations lower by tenth grade compared to peers who registered in ninth grade or later [1]. To contextualize this impact, a 0.2 standard deviation difference corresponds approximately to six months of school instruction [1].
The performance gap narrows as account registration age increases [1]. Seventh graders who opened accounts showed smaller deficits of 0.17 standard deviations in Italian and 0.22 in mathematics, while eighth graders exhibited even smaller gaps of 0.11 standard deviations in both subjects [1]. Notably, no significant difference in English scores was observed across early and late account creators [1]. The research, conducted across 28 schools in northern Italy with data collected between 2023 and 2024, suggests that excessive social media use and diminished attention span may underlie these academic disparities [1]. Additionally, the study found that students who frequently check their phones are more likely to establish social media accounts earlier, and such students typically experience lower levels of parental supervision [1].