Smartphone risks in kids: Children who are given their own smartphones by the age of 12 face a higher likelihood of poor sleep, weight gain and symptoms of depression, according to new research published in Pediatrics.
The study also found a clear trend: the younger the child was when they first received a smartphone, the greater their risk of developing these problems.
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Dr. Ran Barzilay, the study’s lead author and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the findings add weight to the growing calls for parents to delay smartphone ownership. Speaking to ABC News, he noted that the question of when to hand over a phone is one that almost every modern parent wrestles with, including himself.
The research team, drawn from the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley and Columbia University, analysed data from more than 10,500 participants enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a long-running project tracking young people from childhood into their teenage years.
They examined children aged 9 to 16 between 2016 and 2022 to see how smartphone ownership and the age at which a child first received a device related to health markers.
Their analysis showed that 12-year-olds with smartphones had:
- a 30% higher risk of depression,
- a 40% higher risk of obesity, and
- a 60% higher risk of not getting enough sleep
compared to peers who did not own a smartphone.
The risks climbed steadily with earlier use. For every year younger a child received a phone, starting as early as age 4, the likelihood of negative outcomes rose by roughly 10%, compared with children who got phones later or not at all.
Another notable finding: 13-year-olds who acquired a smartphone within the previous year also showed poorer mental health and sleep patterns, even after researchers adjusted for previous well-being scores.
Although the study does not prove that smartphones directly cause these conditions, it reinforces concerns already raised in earlier psychological and behavioural research.