Global study links early smartphone ownership to poorer mental health in young people

Smartphone ownership before age 13 is linked to poorer mental health and well-being in early adulthood, according to a global study of more than 100,000 young people.

Published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, the study found that people aged 18 to 24 who received their first smartphone at age 12 or younger were more likely to report suicidal ideation, aggression, disconnection from reality, poorer emotional regulation and lower self-esteem.

The data also show that these effects of early smartphone ownership are largely associated with early access to social media and higher risks of cyberbullying, poor sleep, and poor family relationships in adulthood.

A team of experts from Sapien Labs, which runs the world's largest mental wellbeing database, the Global Mind Project (from which the data for this study was collected), is calling for urgent action to protect the mental health of future generations.

“Our data show that early smartphone ownership – and the access to social media it often brings – is associated with profound changes in mental health and well-being in early adulthood,” said lead author, neuroscientist Dr. Tara Thiagarajan, founder and chief scientific officer of Sapien Labs.

"These correlations are mediated by several factors, including access to social media, cyberbullying, sleep disturbances, and poor family relationships, leading to symptoms in adulthood that are not traditional symptoms of depression and anxiety and may be missed by studies using standard tests. These symptoms — increased aggression, disconnection from reality, and suicidal ideation — may have serious social consequences as their prevalence increases in younger generations.

Based on these findings, and given that the age of first smartphone ownership is now well below 13 globally, we call on policymakers to take similar precautions to alcohol and tobacco regulation by restricting access to smartphones for children under 13, mandating digital literacy training, and strengthening corporate accountability.”

Since the early 2000s, smartphones have transformed the way young people communicate, learn, and form identities. But alongside these opportunities come growing concerns about how AI-powered social media algorithms can amplify harmful content and encourage social comparisons, as well as impact activities like face-to-face socializing and sleep.

While many social platforms set a minimum age of 13 for users, enforcement remains inconsistent. Meanwhile, the average age for first smartphone ownership continues to drop, and many children spend hours a day on devices.

The situation with phone bans in schools varies from country to country. In recent years, several countries, including France, the Netherlands, Italy and New Zealand, have banned or restricted mobile phone use in schools. The results of these measures are limited, but a study commissioned by the Dutch government found improvements in student concentration.

This month, politicians in New York announced that the state would become the largest in the U.S. to ban smartphones in schools. It joins states like Alabama, Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and West Virginia, which have passed laws requiring schools to have policies that at least limit access to smartphones.

Previous studies on screen time, social media and smartphone access and various mental health outcomes have shown negative effects but also inconsistent results, making it difficult for policymakers, schools and families to make decisions. This may be due to the use of tests that miss important associated symptoms.

For this new analysis, the team from Sapien Labs used data from the Global Mind Project and the Mind Health Quotient (MHQ) self-assessment tool, which measures social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being, to create an overall mental health score.

Their results showed:

• Specific symptoms most strongly associated with early smartphone ownership include suicidal ideation, aggression, disconnection from reality, and hallucinations.
• Young adults who received their first smartphone before age 13 had lower MHQ scores, and the younger the age at which they received the device, the lower the scores. For example, those who received their smartphone at age 13 had an average score of 30, while those who received theirs at age 5 had an average score of 1.
• The percentage of people considered distressed or having difficulty (with 5 or more severe symptoms) increased by 9.5% in women and 7% in men. This pattern was consistent across regions, cultures, and languages, indicating a critical window of increased vulnerability.
• Early smartphone ownership is also associated with lower self-esteem, self-confidence, and emotional stability in women, and lower stability, self-esteem, and empathy in men.
• Further analysis found that early access to social media explained approximately 40% of the association between early smartphone ownership and later mental health problems, while poor family relationships (13%), cyberbullying (10%) and sleep disturbance (12%) also played significant roles.

Scientists acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated these patterns, but the consistency of these trends across global regions points to a broader impact of early smartphone access on development.

While current data do not yet prove a direct causal link between early smartphone ownership and later well-being, which is a limitation of the study, the authors argue that the scale of potential harm is too great to ignore and justifies preventative measures.

They recommend that lawmakers focus on four key areas:

• Introducing mandatory training in digital literacy and psychology.
• Strengthening enforcement of age-restriction violations on social media and ensuring real consequences for tech companies.
• Restricting access to social platforms for children.
• Implementation of gradual restrictions on access to smartphones.

"Taken together, these policy recommendations aim to protect during critical periods of development," said Dr. Thiagarajan, whose research specializes in studying the effects of the environment on the brain and mind to understand and ensure the productive evolution of the human mind and human systems.