Groundbreaking 2025 study of 100,000+ young adults reveals children getting smartphones before age 13 show significantly higher suicide risk and worse mental health outcomes.
Using regression analysis, we found that, globally, the age of access to social media accounts for approximately 40% of the overall association between age of smartphone ownership and mind health. Other significant contributing factors include poor family relationships (13%), cyberbullying (10%), and disrupted sleep (12%). Notably, 68% of the negative impacts associated with poor family relationships and 63% of the negative impacts associated with cyberbullying are downstream of age of first social media account. This suggests that 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. In contrast, only 19% of the effects of disrupted sleep can be explained by age of access to social media. This suggests that sleep disruptions arising from smartphone ownership at a younger age arise from smartphone activity other than social media (e.g. watching movies, gaming).
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