So far, I’ve refused to buy my 12-year-old son a smartphone. But I’m wondering what other parents are doing. Scroll down to share your experience.
Smartphones Aren’t Making Your Children Smarter
With schools beginning to ban phones and legislation being passed prohibiting them, many parents are wondering if smartphones are good for their children.
unbranded – Lifestyle
My 12-year-old has been begging for a smartphone. So far, I’ve said no.
I know I’m an outlier, though, because when I pick him up from school, I see a slew of sixth graders whip out their phones. He probably feels like the only one at school without one.
I understand why my son wants a phone, though, and I am wondering how other parents handle this. You can tell me your thoughts below.
There’s some peer pressure at school, although that has lessened a bit after the Texas cell phone ban in schools went into effect this past academic year. I think it’s really helped kids and teachers, and I’ve supported it from the get-go. As of January, nearly 40 states have enacted laws or policies that limit or ban kids from having smartphones in schools.
But at home, my son is the youngest of my four kids, and his siblings − all teenagers − have phones. I bought phones for his oldest two siblings years ago, and his 14-year-old sister sometime around the second half of her sixth-grade year.
To be clear, I wish I hadn’t bought phones for my kids when I did, and that’s partly why I’m holding out on my youngest now. Even though I realize that to him, it probably seems unfair. And maybe it is. But he does see them at home on their devices, even though I think he’s also got plenty of other fun activities he participates in − and we spend a lot of time together as a family, not on our devices.
I hate policing phone time. I bet many parents do too.
I have had a love-hate relationship with my kids’ smartphones since the beginning: They “need” the phones to communicate, especially for logistics, and especially once they reach a certain age. But to me, the downsides have almost always outweighed the upsides. Phones have always been a portal to new problems previous generations didn’t have to deal with, like doomscrolling, being a distraction from real-life responsibilities and relationships, and the risk of seeing harmful content.
I especially don’t like social media platforms and banned them for my kids because they’re ubiquitous and addictive. The Pew Research Center reports that older teens are online “almost constantly” − an average of nearly five hours a day. For girls especially, this can contribute to anxiety and depression.
I think my son, who likes to game, would struggle with parameters and boundaries around the phone.
And right now, he’s doing pretty well in his first year of middle school − something I worried about. I fear a smartphone might disrupt that progress. It could be another battle to fight − and I just want to delay it a bit longer.
Turns out, I might be more right about this hunch than I thought. Research published in 2025 said that using smartphones before the age of 13 could damage kids’ mental health. The study also found that kids, especially girls, who use it before age 13 could struggle with suicidal thoughts, worse emotional regulation and detachment from reality.
I’d love to hear what you think:
- At what age did you give your kids smartphones?
- What boundaries did you put in place and why?
Tell us using the form below or email us at [email protected] using the subject line “Children’s smartphones.”
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
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