A new study has shown that children who use smartphones before the age of thirteen are much more prone to ‘serious psychological health problems’ in the future. This new study was published in the Journal of Human Development and Capables, issued by an emerging neuroscience business called ‘Sabine Labs’, and found that the current youth of Z -generation, the first generation that arises with smartphones, when these devices began to use at a younger age. Using data from the ‘Global Mind Project’, which is a major mental health database collected by ‘Sabine’, a team led by Tara Thiajarajan, the fellow holder of the company and the chief scientist, finds that, among other things, more than 100 thousand young men and women between the ages of 18 and 24. In the same group, girls reported a decrease in self -esteem, confidence and emotional flexibility, while boys were less calm, stable and sympathetic compared to their peers who got their first smartphones when they were about the age of thirteen. This age is important, because according to Thiajarajan, the children are not nervous to be exposed to social media on their personal devices until they reach the age of thirteen. The effects of the breast, the head of the study told CNN: “It requires urgent measures to limit the advent of children under the age of thirteen to smartphones, in addition to the more accurate controls for the digital environment to which young people are exposed.” As Thiagaragan explained in a press release, there are many factors that have led to the results of the new Sabine, including “access to social media, electronic bullying, sleep disorder and poor family relationships.” She added that these factors apparently lead to psychological health symptoms in adults that differ from traditional diagnoses, and “can be overlooked by studies using standard investigation tools.” Besides, parents advised not to give their children smartphones to at least thirteen, and Thiajarajan and her team boldly called to the global policymakers, to follow a precaution, similar to alcohol and tobacco regulations, by limiting the arrival of smartphones for those under the age of thirteen, which impose digital cultural education and the institutional accounting. We saw all this last thing when Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, apologized to the US Senate in early 2024 to the families of children affected by his social network, although his statements were not at the required level. In addition to the invitations to take measures, this study is added to a growing set of evidence that smartphones are not only “harmful” to children, as many opponents of technology say, but it can cause serious consequences for their psychological health.
Children’s use of smartphones at an early age “hurts” their mental health
