The Problem with Smartphones
Highly Addictive
The share of teens who say they use the internet almost constantly has gone up: 46% of teens say they use the internet almost constantly, up from only about 24% of teens who said the same in 2014-15.
Disruptive in Classrooms
The debate isn’t just about keeping students focused in the classroom—it extends to the deeper implications smartphones have on our children’s overall development
A recent study shows kids are learning less when distracted by their phones.
Harmful Content
Nearly two-thirds of Generation Z teens and young adults, in six countries, said they or their friends have been targeted in online “sextortion” schemes, new research from Snap Inc. shows.
Snap, Inc: two-thirds of Gen Z targted for online “sextortion”
Mental Health
Its own in-depth research shows a significant teen mental-health issue that Facebook plays down in public. Repeatedly, the company’s researchers found that Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of them, most notably teenage girls.
MORE CONCERNING STATS
On average, children get their first smartphone around age 11. (Source)
About one-third of kids who have a smartphone got their first device at 10 years old, while 19% said they got their first smartphone at 11, and 12% said they did at 12. Put together, almost two-thirds of kids in the survey said they’d gotten their first sm
95% of teens (ages 13-17) use social media (Source)
Nearly 40% of kids between the ages of 8 and 12 ignore platform age restrictions to use social media. (Source)
Teens spend an average of 4.8 hours on social media per day. (Source)
72 percent of American teenagers said they had used A.I. chatbots as companions. Nearly one-eighth had sought “emotional or mental health support” from them, a share that, if scaled to the U.S. population, would equal 5.2 million adolescents. (Source)
In Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, he documents the staggering increases since 2010 in clinical diagnoses of anxiety (134%); depression (106%); anorexia (100%); and substance abuse and addiction (33%). (Source)
Studies have shown that higher use among children and adolescents is linked to adverse effects: depression and anxiety; inadequate sleep (which can disrupt neurological development and lead to depression and suicidal behaviors); low self-esteem; poor body image; eating disorder behaviors; and online harassment. It’s often the most vulnerable youth who are most affected by these adverse effects, increasing disparities. (Source)
The former U.S. Surgeon General has emphasized the link between social media and mental health harms to adolescents. He has called for warning labels on social media to address "the defining public health challenge of our time," and has stated that “the risk of not acting could be someone’s life.” (Source)
Social media and gaming platforms have evolved to include manipulative and addictive features that pose a significant risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. (Source)