A Smartphone Before Age 12 Could Carry Health Risks, Study Says

Researchers found higher rates of depression, poor sleep and obesity among tweens who had early access to a cellphone.

By Catherine Pearson

What is the “right” age to get your child a smartphone? It’s a question that vexes many parents — torn between their pleading tweens and researchers who warn about the potential harms of constant connectivity. But new study findings strengthen the case for holding off.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, found that children who had a smartphone by age 12 were at higher risk of depression, obesity and insufficient sleep than those who did not yet have one. Researchers had analyzed data from more than 10,500 children who participated in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study — the largest long-term look at children’s brain development in the United States to date.

The younger that children under 12 were when they got their first smartphones, the study found, the greater their risk of obesity and poor sleep. The researchers also focused on a subset of children who hadn’t received a phone by age 12 and found that a year later, those who had acquired one had more harmful mental health symptoms and worse sleep than those who hadn’t.

“When you give your kid a phone, you need to think of it as something that is significant for the kid’s health — and behave accordingly,” said Dr. Ran Barzilay, lead author of the study and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

A Better Understanding of the Risks

The new study shows only an association between getting a smartphone earlier in adolescence and poorer health outcomes, not cause and effect. But the researchers point to previous studies that suggest that young people who have smartphones may spend less time socializing in person, exercising and sleeping — all of which are essential for well-being. Adolescence is a sensitive time when even modest changes to sleep or mental health can have deep and lasting effects, they note.

The purpose of the study is not to shame parents who have already given their children devices, Dr. Barzilay said. And he is realistic about how ingrained smartphones have become in American adolescence.

The takeaway, he said, is that age matters.

“A kid at age 12 is very, very different than a kid at age 16,” he said. “It’s not like an adult at age 42 versus 46.”

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