Warning: This article discusses suicide and may be distressing for some readers.
A group of researchers is urging the US Government to consider policies that would ban phones for children below a specified age.
Sapien Labs has published a study highlighting the harmful impacts of cellphone ownership in young children, suggesting that ‘policymakers’ should adopt measures ‘similar to the regulations on alcohol and tobacco’.
Personally, I received my first phone at the age of 11, after completing elementary school in the UK. It was a hand-me-down Sony Ericsson from my brother as I moved into middle school.
However, Dr. Tara Thiagarajan, the founder and chief scientist at Sapien Labs, suggests that this is at least three years earlier than the optimal age for children to have a phone.
The neuroscientist advises that children should not own a cell phone until they are 14 years old, and current statistics support this recommendation.
The study showed that 48 percent of young females who had a smartphone by ages five or six reported experiencing severe suicidal thoughts, with the figure at 31 percent among males.
Conversely, among females who owned a smartphone at 13 or older, only 28 percent reported having suicidal thoughts, with this figure dropping to 20 percent for young males.
“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,” Thiagarajan stated according to EurekAlert.
“These correlations are mediated through several factors, including social media access, cyberbullying, disrupted sleep, and poor family relationships leading to symptoms in adulthood that are not the traditional mental health symptoms of depression and anxiety and can be missed by studies using standard screeners.
“These symptoms of increased aggression, detachment from reality and suicidal thoughts can have significant societal consequences as their rates grow in younger generations.”
She further emphasized: “Based on these findings, and with the age of first smartphones now well under age 13 across the world, we urge policymakers to adopt a precautionary approach, similar to regulations on alcohol and tobacco, by restricting smartphone access for under 13s, mandating digital literacy education and enforcing corporate accountability.”
If you or someone you know is in need of support or is facing a mental health crisis, assistance is available through Mental Health America. You can call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org for chat support. Additionally, the Crisis Text Line is accessible by texting MHA to 741741.
If you or someone you know requires immediate mental health support, the National Suicide Prevention Helpline is available at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis line that operates 24/7 for everyone.