{"id":390610,"date":"2026-07-29T14:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/390610\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T14:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:29:13","slug":"teens-using-food-delivery-apps-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/390610\/","title":{"rendered":"Teens using food delivery apps at school"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO – Nearly half of American teenagers use food delivery apps, and about a quarter are ordering meals directly to their classrooms during school hours, according to a survey presented Monday to the American Society for Nutrition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The study of 1,027 adolescents ages 13 to 17 revealed that 48% of teens use delivery platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats after school, while nearly 24% order food during school hours.<\/p>\n

A clear majority of those orders consisted of fast food. Approximately 59% of app users ordered items such as pizza and burgers, while 34% purchased sugary drinks like soda, according to the study’s abstract.<\/p>\n

Mika Matsuzaki, the study\u2019s lead author, called the results a “wake-up call” for parents and school officials. She noted that while federal nutrition guidelines strictly regulate what schools can serve in cafeterias and vending machines, those standards do not apply to orders placed on personal smartphones.<\/p>\n

“A smartphone instantly brings a food outlet many miles away right to the school gate, fundamentally changing how our children access foods and beverages at school,” Matsuzaki said in a statement. “We can no longer look at school nutrition without looking at the smartphone in a student\u2019s pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regional differences were stark. Students in western states were significantly more likely to use the services, with 34% reporting their schools permitted delivery app usage during the day\u2014a rate the researchers described as “substantially higher” than in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

The findings come amid a nationwide push to restrict mobile devices in classrooms. At least 22 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted “bell-to-bell” phone bans in schools, with another 19 states authorizing local districts to institute similar restrictions, according to data from the Harvard Kennedy School.<\/p>\n

Teenagers surveyed held mixed opinions about whether delivery drivers should be permitted on school grounds. While nearly half of respondents supported allowing food delivery during school hours, many expressed concerns about classroom distractions and campus security.<\/p>\n

“Interestingly, students themselves are divided on whether this should be allowed,” Matsuzaki said. “It\u2019s rare to see teenagers raise flags about their own digital habits, which signals to us that they recognize these platforms are a double-edged sword.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO – Nearly half of American teenagers use food delivery apps, and about a quarter are ordering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-390610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}