No smartphone for under-13s? A new global study makes the case

There is growing evidence that saying no to a smartphone for your primary school aged child is a good move, and there are tech workarounds to help you keep them safe.

Smartphone use at a young age has a range of lingering negative affects when people reach young adulthood, including suicidal thoughts and poor emotional regulation, a new study says. Picture: iStock

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Is it time to take Australia’s social media ban for children under 16 further and restrict all smartphone access for those aged 12 and younger?

Or for parents to play hardball and ignore their primary school aged child’s pleas that without a smartphone they will face ostracisation and social death in the playground?

The provocative questions come amid new research that finds those who had access to a smartphone at age 12 or younger were likelier to have suicidal thoughts, low self-worth and poorer emotional regulation.

The global data analysis of more than 100,000 18 to 24-year-olds, the first generation to move into adulthood alongside their smartphone, also finds a link between their smartphone use before 13 and continued disrupted sleep and poor family relationships as adults.

The results were similar no matter which region the children came from, according to the study Protecting the Developing Mind in a Digital Age, published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities.

“Our data indicate that early smartphone ownership – and the social media access it often brings – is linked with a profound shift in mind health and wellbeing in early adulthood,” says lead author and neuroscientist Tara Thiagarajan, who is the founder and chief scientist of Sapien Labs.

The study finds that 48 per cent of young women aged 18 to 24 who acquired a smartphone at age five or six report suicidal thoughts, compared with 28 per cent who acquired a smartphone at age 13. For young men it is 31 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

“Specific functionings that are significantly diminished in individuals who acquired a smartphone at a younger age include self-image, self-worth and confidence, and emotional resilience among females, and stability and calmness, self-image, self-worth and empathy among males,” the report finds.

Self-image, self-worth and confidence were all significantly diminished among young adults who accessed smartphones at a younger age, according to a new study. Picture: iStock.

“(And) having access to AI-powered social media environments at a younger age puts individuals at greater risk for poorer family relationships and exposure to cyberbullying.”

All very well, but how many five or six-year-olds have access to smart devices? More than you may think.

Information from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner cites data from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation that reports four out of five children aged four are using the internet and 30 per cent of them have access to their own device. By age 12 half of Australia’s children have their own device.

The study accords with research released in March by phone company Human Mobile Devices, which conducted a global survey of 12,000 children aged eight to 15 across countries including the US, Britain, Australia and Germany.

It found that 43 per cent of the Australian children regularly had been contacted online by someone they didn’t know, and 21 per cent have had a stranger try to move them on to an encrypted chat.

Across all countries, four in 10 had been sent sexual or violent content on their phones.

In late 2024 the Albanese government became the first in the world to introduce an obligation on social media platforms to ensure that under-16s don’t have an account. The laws kick in from December this year.

Four out of five children aged four in Australia are using the internet and 30 per cent of them have access to their own device, data from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation says. Picture: iStock.

The new Sapien Labs study says all governments, including Australia’s, should go further and ban social media platforms from all internet-connected devices for children under 13 and restrict their access to smartphones as well.

“Access to smartphones should be restricted for children under 13, with alternatives offered, such as ‘kids phones’ that provide basic utility without social media or AI-powered content streams,” it says.

“By offering developmentally appropriate alternatives, this approach aims to minimise psychological reactance, offer access to developmentally appropriate opportunities afforded by digital devices (eg education apps), and avoid the counterproductive effects often associated with outright bans.”

The eSafety Commissioner’s advice is for parents to make careful judgments about the level of maturity of their child and to have clear rules on usage times.

“For younger children it may be best to start with a mobile phone without internet access and only introduce a smartphone when they demonstrate an appropriate level of maturity. There’s a range of mobile devices and settings that allow you to control which tools or services your child can access,” the eSafety Commissioner says.

“Some younger children might argue that they are ready for a smartphone, especially if their friends already have one. But it is worth holding out until you feel confident that your child is mature enough.”

Some phone companies already are responding to the market. Many are offering parental controls on phones and HMD has developed a specific smartphone designed for younger people, soon to be available in Australia, that allows parents to manage app access, set screen time limits, track location and enable school mode.