Children who receive their first smartphone before the age of 12 face higher risks of depression, poor sleep and obesity, according to new research published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The study, conducted by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University, analyzed data from more than 10,500 children tracked from childhood into adolescence as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study — the largest long-term research project on child brain development in the United States.
How Smartphones Affect Children Under 12 years
Researchers found that at age 12, children who already owned a smartphone had a 1.3 times higher risk of depression, a 1.6 times higher risk of insufficient sleep, and a 1.4 times higher risk of obesity compared with peers who did not yet have their own device.
Dr. Ran Barzilay, the study’s lead author and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said just over 60 percent of children included in the analysis had their own smartphone by age 12. The median age for receiving a first smartphone was 11. The data examined was collected when participants were between 12 and 13 years old, between 2018 and 2021.
The study set out to investigate whether owning a smartphone at a younger age was linked to poorer health outcomes. “While there is no magic age at which smartphone acquisition is recommended, our study suggests that, on average, having a smartphone by age 12 is associated with worse health outcomes,” Dr. Barzilay told PEOPLE.
He said parents should not only consider when to give a child a phone but also monitor how it affects their sleep, physical activity and overall well-being. “Do they still get enough sleep and have enough time to exercise and play outside of screens?” he asked.
Barzilay said the motivation behind the research was the lack of scientific data supporting recommendations to delay giving children smartphones. “In medicine, we aim to take decisions that are evidence-based,” he said, adding that the findings offer important guidance for parents and policymakers navigating children’s digital habits.
A video released alongside the study highlights broader trends: according to Pew Research Center data, 95 percent of U.S. teenagers aged 13 to 17 owned a smartphone in 2024. Nearly one-third of children aged 8 to 10 had their own device, along with more than half of those aged 11 to 12. Among even younger children, 12 percent of parents of 5-to-7-year-olds said their kids owned smartphones, and 8 percent of parents reported the same for children under age 5.
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