When Should You Let Your Child Get a Smartphone?

It’s a conversation you’ve had about 3,000 times — your tween is begging you for a smartphone. They insist everyone else in their class has one, and claim they’re getting left behind because you’ve told them, “Later, later, later.” Sound familiar?

It’s hard to know the right time to give your child their own cellphone. For Dr. Ran Barzilay from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, it felt personal. With two teens and one tween at home, there were plenty of discussions about smartphones. But after his 9-year-old began asking for a phone, Dr. Barzilay questioned whether previous decisions he’d made about when to let his children have smartphones still made sense today, knowing much more about smartphone usage and what it may do to impact health. 

Dr. Barzilay is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at CHOP and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies what drives children’s physical and mental health. He was already working on a large national study of almost 12,000 young people that followed children across the United States for the last decade, called the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD). It was designed to look at brain development and child health. So, why not use the data they had to try to answer the hotly contested question: When is the right time to give your child a smartphone? 

He began working with a group of research scientists to discover answers to help guide parents on what to consider. Age of smartphone acquisition and data on participants’ health were linked to determine whether the age at which children got smartphones affected health outcomes. In particular, they looked into possible impacts in the health areas of obesity, sleep, and depression. The results of the study were published in Pediatrics. 

What to Know 

Your child isn’t exaggerating when they say many other kids have a smartphone. One of the things Barzilay’s team first discovered in the study was that 11 was the average age at which kids got a smartphone, and about 7 out of 10 families said their children had smartphones by age 12. 

After running the numbers further, they found that children who owned a smartphone by age 12 had a greater risk of obesity, insufficient sleep, and depression. Pushing back the age at which kids receive a smartphone was potentially beneficial to a child’s mental health. Barzilay’s team looked more specifically at kids who got their smartphone before their thirteenth birthday. Kids who received a smartphone between 12 and 13 had more mental health problems compared to kids who did not yet have a smartphone. Moreover, they also had a greater chance of not getting enough sleep. These results were significant even when taking into account mental health and sleep at age 12, suggesting the findings are specific to when children acquired their phone.

So, at least until age 13, the later you can wait to give your child a phone, the better it may be for their health.

Know Your Child as an Individual

Dr. Barzilay points out that the findings address broad trends and examine the population’s averages. What they don’t predict is the outcome for an individual child. He says it’s important to know, “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 negative health implications. So, when a family reaches the point of deciding whether to give their child a phone, they should consider these factors. There are pros and cons –  in medicine, we think of it in terms of what the cost is and what the benefit is. Then it’s a matter of weighing the individual kid and the individual decision for the child and family.” 

Exceptions Can be Made

Delaying the age at which a child gets a smartphone may not be possible for every parent or guardian. Some circumstances may require families to give their younger child a smartphone for better 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,” Dr. Barzilay says. Their child’s device helps them know that their child is safe. Ensuring your child’s safety means exceptions can be made without guilt. But they can also be accompanied by family discussions about phone use and establishing boundaries.  

Taking Action – to Delay

As for Dr. Barzilay, he is following the guidance he offers to others. That guidance has been compiled into a resource for parents to help guide their teens on cellphone use. He’s broken the news to his 9-year-old that he won’t be getting a smartphone before he turns 13. He’s also made sure his son knows the impactful results of the study. That helps his son understand that waiting may lead to better health outcomes in his future.

No child, and especially no adolescent, wants to feel controlled or restricted. But they do appreciate being protected. They feel more secure knowing their parents and adults in their lives care about their safety and well-being. So, it is important to explain that you are making decisions about their cellphone not to restrict them, but to protect their safety and well-being. Because you care about them. 

If you want more details on the study’s highlights and some conversation strategies to talk with your teen about cellphones, read this Q&A with Dr. Barzilay.