A 2025 study suggests that children, especially girls, who own a Smartphone before theyturn 13 years, may have the worst mental health issues when they are older.
The discovery, which was published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, centered on data gathered from the Global Mind Project to examine “population-levelimpacts of childhood smartphone ownership on mind health and wellbeing in youngadulthood,” and analyzed “self-reported” questionnaire results from more than 100,000respondents aged 18 to 24.
ABC News reported that the respondents were asked about different mental healthsymptoms, such as having aggression, feelings of detachment, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts.
It revealed that owning a Smartphone before the age of 13 is associated with feelings of low self-image and self-worth in both boys and girls. Girls also experienced lower emotional resilience and lower confidence, while boys reported feeling less calm, less stable, and less empathetic.
Meanwhile, CNN pointed out that these negative feelings came because kids had access to social media at an early age and experienced sleep disruptions, cyberbullying and negative family relationships.
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The younger the child gets a smartphone, the more exposure to all this impacts them psychologically and shapes the way they think and view the world; said Sapien Labs Researcher Hub’s Tara Thiagarajan in an emailed statement sent to ABC News.
Thiagarajan also called for parents to limit smartphone access to kids under 13, as well as “more nuanced regulation on the digital environment young people are exposed to.”
Ideally, kids should not have a smartphone until they are 14 years old. And if they do, Thiagarajan advised parents to take time to talk to their children and discuss on how to interact on the Internet and “explain the consequences of doing various things.”
