TEL AVIV, ISRAEL | A large survey of Israeli secondary school students has found that smartphones dominate much of teenagers’ daily lives, with 71 percent reporting at least five hours of phone use a day and 85 percent saying they received their first smartphone before the end of fourth grade.
Israel Sci-Tech Schools, also known as the ORT Israel education network, conducted the survey among 2,470 students in grades 7 through 12.
Its findings raise concerns about concentration, emotional dependence, social interaction, exposure to harmful content and the extent to which parents understand what their children are doing online.
Israel Hayom reported substantially the same survey findings earlier in August, including that 71 percent of students spend more than five hours a day on smartphones and 43 percent spend more than eight hours a day in front of screens overall.
Israel Sci-Tech Schools is Israel’s largest independent educational network, serving about 100,000 students at more than 260 institutions, according to its U.S.-based support organization.
Smartphone Ownership Begins Early
Smartphone ownership was nearly universal among respondents.
Ninety-nine percent said they currently own a smartphone.
Researchers were concerned about how early that ownership begins.
Fourteen percent said they received their first smartphone before elementary school.
Another 37 percent said they received one in first or second grade, and 34 percent said they received their first device in third or fourth grade.
Only 9 percent said they first received a smartphone in fifth or sixth grade, while 5 percent said their first device came during middle school.
Taken together, 85 percent had their first smartphone before completing fourth grade.
That means most students surveyed were introduced to continuous mobile internet access years before adolescence.
Screen Time Extends Far Beyond the Smartphone
The survey found that phone use forms only part of students’ overall daily screen exposure.
In addition to the 71 percent spending at least five hours a day on their phones, 58 percent said they spend at least three additional hours on other electronic screens.
Forty-three percent reported spending at least eight hours a day in front of screens overall.
Fifteen percent said they use their smartphones during class or school hours.
Social media accounted for the largest share of smartphone activity.
Fifty-five percent identified social media as their main use of the device, while 81 percent said they spend more than three hours a day on social-media platforms.
Those findings reinforce concerns already being raised across Israel about the relationship between smartphones, student attention and school performance.
Signs of Compulsive Use
The survey also asked students about behaviors commonly associated with problematic or compulsive smartphone use.
Ten percent said the urge to use their phone makes it difficult to focus in class or complete tasks.
Eighteen percent said they often forget assignments or responsibilities because they were occupied with their phone.
Twenty-two percent said they feel restless when they do not have their smartphone with them.
Thirty-two percent said they have used their phone for longer than they originally intended.
Israel Hayom similarly reported that almost one in five students said they often failed to complete tasks because they were busy with their smartphone, while 22 percent reported restlessness when the device was not within reach.
Students Also Report Emotional Reliance
The findings suggest smartphone use is not limited to entertainment or communication.
Thirty-three percent of respondents said they prefer distracting themselves with their smartphone rather than dealing with stressful or unpleasant emotional situations.
Thirty-nine percent said using their smartphone makes them feel better.
Twenty-two percent said they use their phones even while socializing with friends or attending events.
Those responses point to a form of emotional reliance that goes beyond simple screen-time totals.
Raz Frohlich, CEO of Israel Sci-Tech Schools, said the concern is not technology itself but the loss of balance in how young people use it.
“When 71% of our students are spending five or more hours a day on their smartphone, and 85% got their first device before fourth grade, we are watching attention, mental health, and real-world relationships pay the price,” Frohlich said.
“Our role as an educational network is to teach young people to control technology, not to be controlled by it.”
Frohlich currently leads Israel Sci-Tech Schools after previously holding senior public and private-sector roles, including director general of Israel’s Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Harmful Content Is Part of the Picture
The survey also examined what students encounter online.
Nineteen percent said they had been exposed to bad language, insults or other negative material on the platforms they use.
Eight percent said content calling for violent action is common on those platforms.
The survey did not establish that such content caused any specific behavioral or psychological outcome.
It does, however, add another layer to the question of how much unsupervised digital exposure students are experiencing.
Most Students Say Parents Are Not Monitoring Their Phones
Parental oversight appears limited.
Seventy-four percent of students said their smartphone does not have a parental monitoring application installed.
Fifty-three percent said their parents have no clear idea about what is happening on their phones.
That finding may be particularly significant given how young many respondents were when they first received a smartphone.
Students who received their first devices in early elementary school may have been given extensive digital access long before they had the maturity to manage social media, online harassment or inappropriate content independently.
Students Divided on School Restrictions
Students were less unified on whether schools should intervene.
Nineteen percent said they support limiting smartphone use during the school day.
Another 24 percent said they had not formed an opinion.
Fifty-seven percent opposed restrictions.
That means a clear majority remains resistant to school-imposed limits, despite the high levels of use reported in the survey.
The issue is increasingly relevant because Israel’s Education Ministry has already moved toward tighter restrictions.
Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, smartphone use is being restricted in middle schools, including grades 7 through 9, with devices expected to remain switched off and stored during the school day except when explicitly authorized for educational purposes.
A similar policy was introduced in elementary schools beginning in February 2026.
Schools Begin Testing Intervention Programs
Israel Sci-Tech Schools says it has also begun a pilot program with the Attention Revolution movement to strengthen student concentration and reduce unhealthy smartphone dependence.
Frohlich said participating schools must appoint a lead staff member, involve school management and teachers in shared learning sessions, and assess the attitudes and behavior of students, educators and parents before developing their own intervention plan.
The Attention Revolution has been expanding nationally and works in part through agreements among parents and schools to delay or limit smartphone exposure among children. Its CEO, Asaf Banner, has said the initiative is intended to rebuild a healthier relationship between young people and digital technology.
The emphasis is not on rejecting technology.
Israel is simultaneously expanding its use of advanced digital tools and artificial intelligence in education, including major new national programs involving companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
The challenge for educators is therefore more complicated than simply removing devices.
Schools are trying to distinguish between technology used deliberately for learning and uncontrolled personal use that may undermine concentration, sleep, relationships or classroom engagement.
A Broader Education Debate
The Israel Sci-Tech Schools survey does not establish a direct causal relationship between smartphone use and attention-deficit disorders or mental-health problems.
It is a self-reported survey measuring patterns of use, attitudes and behavioral indicators.
Still, the scale of the findings is difficult to ignore.
Nearly every student owns a smartphone.
Most received one in elementary school.
Most spend hours every day on social media.
A substantial minority report distraction, restlessness, or emotional dependence.
And more than half say their parents do not fully understand what happens on their devices.
The findings suggest that the question facing Israeli schools and families is no longer whether smartphones are central to student life.
They already are.
The harder question is whether children, parents and schools can establish boundaries before constant connectivity becomes the default structure of childhood itself.
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