An Institute for Fiscal Studies working paper covering more than 12,000 English primary schools finds 8% fewer recorded mental health needs in schools where at least one in five families signed a pact to delay smartphone ownership. The study compares these with similar schools where few families signed. The first causal evidence that delaying children’s smartphones improves their mental health has been produced by an independent economist, using the rapid spread of Smartphone Free Childhood’s Parent Pact as a natural experiment. In primary schools where at least one in five families had signed the Parent Pact, pledging to delay smartphones until 14 and social media until 16, recorded social, emotional and mental health needs were 8.2% lower than in comparable schools with fewer signatories. Child psychiatric disability claims were also about 6% lower in communities with higher Pact participation. The effect grew as more families took part. Where around one in ten families had signed, r...