A growing number of parents are refusing to give their children smartphones – and the movement is going global

LONDON – Evidence linking smartphone use to mental health impairments in children is mounting and a UK grassroots organization is supporting parents who refrain from giving their children the devices.

Smartphone Free Childhood, founded by Daisy Greenwell and Clare Fernyhough in February, created various group chats for parents locally across the UK and grew to over 60,000 members within weeks, according to its website.

Interest in the movement is fueled by concerns about the normalization of children with smartphones. By the age of 12, 97% of children in the UK have a mobile phone, according to Ofcom, a government-approved regulator for the use of communications services in the UK.

Meanwhile, in the US, 42% of children had a smartphone by age 10, rising to 91% by age 14, according to a 2021 report from Common Sense, which surveyed 1,306 US youth between the ages of eight years old. until 18.

Parents are giving their children smartphones in an increasingly online world for a variety of reasons, including entertainment purposes, to keep track of their location and to stay in touch with them when they leave the house. However, studies and experts point out that this is opening the door to social media and potential mental health damage.

SFC aims to bring together parents who are not giving their children smartphones to ease the peer pressure and isolation they may feel.

Its success has seen it expand internationally with bands set up in the US, Australia, UAE, Brazil, Canada, South Africa and various other countries.

Just days after the SFC campaign began, the UK government – ​​then led by the Conservative Party – issued new guidelines banning the use of smartphones in schools and during holidays.

Some places in the US – such as Los Angeles, and the states of Florida and Indiana – have issued bans on cell phones in schools.

Other independent organizations are forming globally including Austin-based Wait Until 8th, Unplugged in Canada, No Es Momento in Mexico and Heads Up Alliance in Australia.

However, some academics and scientists remain unconvinced that smartphones and poor mental health are linked. Psychology professor Christopher Ferguson told NBC News earlier this year that society tends to react negatively to new technologies and their potential harms from televisions to video games and, more recently, AI.

Young people reported worse mental health outcomes the earlier they bought a smartphone, a Sapien Labs study published last year found.

The study used data from 27,969 18-24-year-olds, which was taken between January and April 2023 in 41 countries including North America, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, South Asia and Africa.

According to the study, about 74% of female respondents who got their first smartphone at age 6 reported feeling anxious or struggling. However, this dropped to 61% for those who bought their first smartphone at age 10 and 52% for those who were 15.

For male respondents, the percentage feeling uncomfortable or difficult dropped from 42% for those who got their first smartphone at age six, to 36% for those who got their first smartphone at age 18.

Young people who bought their first smartphone at an older age reported better mental well-being, including fewer problems with suicidal thoughts and feelings of aggression, and reduced problems with disconnection from reality.

These findings are mobilizing parents to take action, said Zach Rausch, a research scientist at New York University’s Stern School of Business and lead researcher on Jonathon Haidt’s number one New York Times bestseller “The Anxious Generation.”

“The mass migration to a phone-based childhood has been really detrimental to young people,” Rausch told CNBC Make It in an interview.

“Investigations are ongoing and the evidence of damage has become stronger year after year,” he added. “The lid has been taken off the box and parents see that other parents are talking about it, so we’re seeing this wave of parents coming together.”

Rausch said it’s the combination of smartphones and social media that is especially deadly for young people.

The UK Millennial Cohort Study, which followed the lives of approximately 19,000 young people born in the UK between 2000 and 2002, found a high association between social media use and depressive symptoms, including low self-esteem, bullying in internet and poor body image.

“When smartphones and social media really came together, it created this whole new way of interacting with each other,” Rausch said.

“So now you have social media in your pocket on a smartphone that’s designed to maximize the amount of time you spend on your phone … it’s built in a way that’s addictive in nature and tries to draw you in.”

In the last years, MetaThe parent company of social media platforms Instagram and Facebook has come under fire from lawmakers and parents for exposing children and teenagers to harmful content on its platforms, including various allegations of child sexual exploitation.

In turn, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called on lawmakers to issue more guidelines and regulations to help tackle harmful online content. Under mounting pressure, the tech giant announced in January 2024 that it will limit the type of content teenage Instagram and Facebook users can see including self-harm, eating disorders and nudity.

Some tech companies are trying to create kid-friendly smartphone and social media experiences. Google launched YouTube Kids in 2015, a separate YouTube-like app with kid-friendly content and parental controls.

The manufacturer of the iPhone Apple recently launched a new website promoting the Apple Watch to kids who are too young for smartphones. The device would be managed by parents’ iPhones so they could keep in touch with their children.