What is the “right” age to give your child a smartphone? That’s the question that many parents are curious about, torn between pressing demands from their pre-teens and researchers warning of the potential harm of constant contact. But new findings from one study reinforce the idea Waiting is better.
The study, published in the American Journal of Pediatrics last Monday (1), found that children who already had a smartphone at age 12 were more likely to suffer from depression, obesity, and poor sleep than those who did not. The researchers analyzed data from more than 10,500 children who participated in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, the largest long-term study of children’s brain development in the United States to date.
The study found that the younger children got their first smartphone, the greater their risk of obesity and poor sleep quality. The researchers also looked at a subgroup of children who did not receive a phone until age 12. They found that after a year, those who got the device had more severe symptoms of mental health problems and poorer sleep quality than those who didn’t get it.
— When you give your child a phone, you should think of it as something important for their health — and act accordingly, said Dr. Ran Barzilai, the study’s lead author and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. – he added
Better understanding of risks
The new study only shows an association between getting a smartphone in early adolescence and worse health outcomes, not a cause-and-effect relationship. But the researchers point to previous studies suggesting that young people who use smartphones may spend less time socializing, exercising and sleeping, all of which are essential for well-being. They point out that adolescence is a sensitive period where even modest changes in sleep or mental health can have profound and lasting effects.
Dr. Barzilai says the goal of the study is not to shame parents who have already given electronic devices to their children. And he’s realistic about how ingrained smartphones are in American adolescence.
– The bottom line is that age matters – the doctor said – a 12-year-old is very different from a 16-year-old. It’s not like comparing a 42-year-old to a 46-year-old, he’s already done that.
The average age at which the children in the study got their first smartphone was 11. According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, nearly all American teens now say they have access to smartphones.
Jacqueline Nessie, an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University who writes the Techno Sapiens newsletter about parenting in the digital age, cautioned that the new study cannot prove that these cell phones cause direct harm.
“It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to get this kind of causal evidence on this issue,” she said, although the findings may “encourage” parents to stop giving their children smartphones.
Guardians do not need to wait for perfect evidence to make this kind of decision, – said the doctor – they should feel free to trust their intuition and delay giving their children a smartphone until everyone is ready, including parents who need to do the hard work of implementing protection and boundaries – she concluded.
For Dr. Nissi, giving a child a device that can access everything on the Internet will always be risky.
The importance of protecting sleep
Although researchers are still discussing the negative effects of smartphones on children, most agree that these devices can prevent them from getting enough sleep.
University of California pediatrician Dr. Jason Nagata cited a 2023 study he participated in, using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study sample, which found that 63% of 11- to 12-year-olds reported having an electronic device in their bedroom. Nearly 17% said they had woken up to cell phone notifications in the past week.
– Dr. Nagata said removing cell phones from the bedroom at night is a simple step families can take to mitigate some of the negative health effects associated with smartphones, even if parents have already given their children a device.
But he and others acknowledged how difficult it is for families.
Dr. Barzilai has three children, two of whom received smartphones before they were 12 years old. But he said his 9-year-old son won’t be getting one anytime soon.
He encouraged other parents to consider new data about the potential risks of early smartphone ownership when deciding when to give their children a device.
— This doesn’t mean that every child with a smartphone will have a lifelong problem, he said — it just means that we as parents, and hopefully, policymakers and society as well, let’s do something about it together.