5 Key Takeaways

• 1

  Short technology breaks in college classrooms were linked to lower cell phone use, but results varied and were not consistently different from question breaks.

• 2

  The study involved 21 undergraduate students across 22 class periods, comparing 1, 2, and 4-minute technology breaks to question breaks.

• 3

  Average cell phone use was 0.35 responses per minute during technology breaks, compared to 0.53 responses per minute during question breaks.

• 4

  One-minute technology breaks resulted in the lowest cell phone use and the highest average quiz scores, but use increased immediately after breaks.

• 5

  No significant difference in overall quiz scores was found between technology breaks and question breaks, though differences were noted for break durations.