Key takeaways The widespread concern about the effect of cellphones on reading comprehension in elementary school children has led to surprisingly little experimental research. New research by UCLA psychologists found a statistically significant relationship between owning a cellphone and lower reading scores — children who owned cellphones had poorer reading comprehension than those who did not. In fact, simply owning a phone correlated with worse reading comprehension, whether or not the phone was brought to school. The researchers found a statistically significant relationship between owning a personal cellphone and lower reading scores — children who owned cellphones had poorer comprehension than those who did not. Furthermore, there was no difference in reading comprehension when phones were on desks or out of sight.