When To Get Your Child a Smartphone

Have you ever asked yourself, “When should I let my child get a smartphone?” Dr. Ran Barzilay, has some information on the topic that you’re going to want to know. He is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barzilay led a study published in Pediatrics that investigated the health impacts on children who received smartphones during their tween and teen years. I spoke with him about the study and this important technology milestone. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.  

Eden Pontz: Your study considers the question of when to give a child a cell phone. It’s certainly a hot topic of debate. What inspired you to do this study? 

Ran Barzilay:  The motivation behind the study was personal for me because I have three kids. The older ones are 18 and 14. They both had smartphones when they were around age nine to 10. My little one, who’s nine, started to say he wants his own smartphone. At the same time, there’s all this media attention now about smartphones and what they do to kids. I’m in a profession where I study what drives kids’ physical and mental health.

I thought we needed to question decisions we made with our older kids because they were made before people were thinking about it. I was crunching data as part of my work as a scientist at CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania. We looked at a national study called the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD). It follows kids from ages nine and 10, into adolescence. I’ve been working on this data set for years. So, when my youngest started talking about smartphones, we looked to see whether this study collected data on them. I thought we had an opportunity to address a question that is very personal for me, but also that will be broadly informative to parents and families who are struggling over when the right time is to give your child a smartphone. We linked data on whether the child has a smartphone and the age they received it to important health outcomes. Specifically, we looked at depression, obesity, and sleep.

EP: What were some of the key findings you want parents and caregivers to consider? 

RB: There are three major findings that lead us to believe that smartphones overall should be considered as something that impacts a child’s health. First, when we compared, on average, kids at age 12 who had a smartphone to kids at age 12 who didn’t have one, on average the kids with smartphones had more chances of depression, obesity, and not sleeping sufficient hours. Around 70%, seven out of 10 families, said their child by age 12 had a smartphone. The average age at which kids got smartphones in this study was age 11.

The ABCD study has almost 12,000 kids, and we include data on more than 11,000 kids in our analysis. Age 11 is about the average age at which the typical American teen or early teen gets their first smartphone. This demonstrates that what we discovered may be reflective of a broader community of American teens. This was finding number one. 

The second finding we observed was among the kids who had smartphones at age 12. We had around 7,000 kids with smartphones at age 12 and we focused only on them. We asked the question, how does the age when the child got a smartphone relate to their health at age 12? What we found about the relationship between the age of getting a smartphone and health at age 12 is that, overall, the kids who received smartphones earlier had greater chances of obesity and insufficient sleep at age 12. Earlier age of smartphone acquisition did not seem to make a difference to risk of depression at age 12. It is important that we can make the point about what we have learned about cell phones and depression clearly. It seems that tweens who had cell phones at the age of 12 had higher rates of depression than those who did not.  It did not seem to matter whether they got those phones at 11 or 12.

The third finding, which I think is the most compelling, was found when we looked at a smaller group of kids who did not have smartphones at age 12. It was a minority of the kids, since most already had smartphones by then. But because the study was so large to begin with, we still had more than 3,000 kids aged 12 who didn’t have smartphones. The study followed them for a year, and we looked again at age 13. Many of them got a smartphone between the ages of 12 and 13. That allowed us to test health outcomes at age 13, comparing kids who just got a smartphone to kids who didn’t have one at age 13. What we found is that on average, the kids who got their smartphones between the ages of 12 and 13 had more mental health problems at age 13 compared to those who didn’t have them. They also had greater chances of not sleeping enough. We had already checked their mental health and sleep at age 12, before they got a smartphone, so the differences we found at age 13  seem to be specifically related to getting a smartphone.

We aren’t arguing against technology or the use of technology. What we’re trying to do with this type of research is provide overall guidance that on average smartphones under the age of 13 appear to have adverse health implications. And when a family comes to the point of making decisions, about providing their child with a phone, they should take these things into consideration. There are pros and cons, and in medicine we think of it in terms of what is the cost and what is the benefit. Then it’s a matter of weighing the individual kid and the individual decision for the child and family. 

EP: What are examples of some times when parents might consider making an exception in giving a child a cell phone before the age of 12?  

RB: Sometimes we have circumstances where we need to have a smartphone for communication. For some families, it may be for safety reasons because they need to know that their child is safe and a smartphone may be the only option. 

When the decision to give your child a smartphone has been made, I’d recommend having a discussion with your child about how this may impact their health, and even cite the science that supports it. Once you have this discussion, try to see how your child responds to it. Once the smartphone has been given, try to keep your hand on the pulse over time. How is your child’s sleep affected? How does the smartphone affect your child’s engagement in physical activities or sports, which we know are relevant both for mental health and physical health? Think about how the smartphone impacts the ability for them to have offline interaction, either with family members or peers, and make sure the smartphone is not something that takes over your kid’s life. 

We are not against smartphones for kids; in fact we know by the time they become adults and by late adolescence, virtually everyone will have a smartphone. But we are  empowering parents to have a discussion with their teens about how the smartphone may play a role in their health. By having this discussion, hopefully we mitigate the risk and we benefit from the many great things that smartphones and technologies offer kids these days.

EP:  What are some things that parents might do or consider in the lead up to deciding whether to give their child a cell phone?

RB:  It’s like any other decision: when we look at kids and ask ourselves, are they ready for the next step? See how they can handle making shared decisions or rules that are agreed upon in a family. We make agreements and rules with our kids all the time, even before they get smartphones. When you think your child is ready for a smartphone, make some clear rules together first. For example, the phone is not allowed in the bedroom at night and must charge in another room. Before you give them a phone, ask if they can agree to these rules.

You can also make rules about social media and apps. Just because your child has a smartphone does not mean they can download any app, social media platform, or game they want. If you feel your child is not ready to follow these rules, that may be a sign to wait before giving them a smartphone.

Keep the discussion open. You could say to your child, “We know this study came out from CHOP. It seems that for some kids, when they are younger than 13, having a smartphone may affect their health. What do you think about that? We want to try and work together so that it will not affect your health. We care about you.”

It’s not a discussion about alarming kids of the dangers. It’s not a discussion where you try to scare them off. It’s more a discussion about, “Let’s think together. How can we help you develop healthy tech habits that will benefit your health, not just in adolescence, but into adulthood?”  

In today’s digital world, it’s essential for kids to spend time with others face-to-face, not just on screens. Doing so helps them develop empathy, learn to read body language for a better understanding of others, and boost mental health. When your child first gets a smartphone, pay close attention to whether they start turning down opportunities such as hanging out with friends or joining school clubs. Gently step in if you see this happening. Encourage them to get involved in everyday school activities including group projects, after-school clubs, or sports teams. Plan simple get-togethers with other families so your child can build real-world friendships. Now is the time to double down on spending quality IRL (in real life) time and strengthening family connections! 

We want parents to feel empowered to provide their kids with technology and help them develop healthy tech habits because we know that eventually everyone will have their smartphones. The goal is educating our kids to enjoy technology but also keep themselves safe, and to make decisions together to establish healthy habits that will benefit the entire family.

For more, check out this expert-backed resource that provides tips, guidance, and essential questions to ask as you make this important decision.