This Might Be the Best Age To Give Kids A Phone — And Reduce Mental Health Risks

The right age to give a kid a phone remains a hotly contested debate, but a new study is making the case for a specific milestone age as risky for a child to get a phone. 

The recent study, published in the journal Pediatrics, examined data from more than 10,500 children to determine how the age of smartphone acquisition was associated with health outcomes at age 12. The researchers found that children who had a smartphone by age 12 had a higher risk of depression, obesity and poor sleep than those who did not yet have one. The health risks of obesity and sleep problems were worse for children whose parents gave them a phone sooner than 12.  

“For me, this paper and the findings do support delaying [giving the kid a smartphone] a little bit until older than 12,” said Dr. Ran Barzilay, lead author of the study, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.

Barzilay noted that his findings are broadly on a “population level.” However, there can, of course, be individual safety reasons why a child younger than 12 might benefit from a phone. 

What Families Should Do With The Study’s Findings 

Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker and author of First Phone: A Child’s Guide to Digital Responsibility, Safety, and Etiquette, said the study’s findings are a “great start,” but there can be nuanced reasons that children 12 and under might benefit from having a phone. 

“There are some divorced families, there are kids with diabetes, there are kids that are very socially awkward, and all their friends are having a phone, and it’s really the only way they can connect,” Pearlman cited as examples. 

Yet it may not just be about kids “having” the phone, but about the ways kids are using it, Pearlman said.

“Maybe it’s the lack of supervision and the amount of time that kids are on it, especially in the nighttime,” she continued. “So to me, that’s even more important.” 

Pearlman said one of her suggestions to families is not have kids charge their phones in their bedrooms, because it can lead to poor sleep habits.

“Kids that swore they would never touch it, set their alarms and would get up in the middle of the night to play games with their friends,” she said. 

If your child sleeps with their phone, Pearlman noted that “it’s never too late to make changes with your kid and their cell phone.”

“If you say ‘we’re charging your phone downstairs, and you have a 10 o’clock limit,’ that is just a final decision,” she said. “After a couple of days of arguing ... they’ll accept it.”

Pearlman’s general recommendation is that introducing a child to a phone between 12 and 13 years old can be beneficial, as this age group is open to being mentored and supervised by trusted adults.

“I would rather a kid get a phone at 12 with a lot of hands-on mentoring than waiting till 14, when to be honest, they’re already on the apps,” Pearlman said. “They’re already doing all the things, but it’s out of sight of parents.”

Whichever age you decide is dependent on the child you have and your unique family circumstances. But as for the study’s author, Barzilay, it’s changing how he parents his own kids going forward.

“This is not about blaming parents ... I can show from my own experience, my older kids got the smartphones before they were 12,” Barzilay said. “We didn’t know. I think that now we know more.” 

Barzilay’s youngest child is 9, and based on what he learned from his study, his young son will not get a smartphone before age 13.

“For me as a parent, I have enough evidence to make an informed decision,” he said.