New Data Suggests Young Adults Who Got Smartphones Earlier Have Worse Mental Health
- AJ Rice
- Aug 12, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 28, 2025
A new report released in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities based on a survey from the Global Mind Project examined the association between age of first smartphone and current mind health of young adults. The survey measured the mind health of over 100,000 young adults age 18-24 and also asked survey participants at what age they first had a smartphone. From the authors:
"The most prominent finding is that for those who acquired their smartphone below the age of 13, their overall mind health and wellbeing is progressively lower with each younger age of first smartphone ownership. Specifically, the MHQ score drops from 30 for those who acquired a smartphone at age 13 to just 1 for those who acquired a smartphone at age five (p < 0.001 for age 14 + vs <10)."
Below graph of Mind Health Quotient (MHQ) score (higher is better/healthier) by average age at which the (now) young adults first received a smartphone.
Methodology Overview
The survey, conducted by the Global Mind Project has collected data from over 100,000 young adults aged 18-24 across the globe. The survey measures mental health and well-being through an online self-assessment which measures "Mind Health" across a variety of metrics including positive functions and negative symptoms.
"The assessment generates a composite metric, the MHQ score, that reflects overall mind health, spans the spectrum from distressed (−100) to thriving (+200), and linearly relates to productive outcomes (Newson, Sukhoi, and Thiagarajan 2024)."
In essence it's a broad-ranging detailed self-assessment which measures mental/mind health in a variety of ways to develop an overall measure of Mind Health (MHQ) as well as scores for sub-components thereof.
Key Findings on Smartphones & Mental Health
The key takeaway is that those who acquired a smartphone before age 13 reported worse mental/mind health and well-being. The earlier they acquired a smartphone the worse their outcomes on average. This difference is quite significant (p < 0.001 for age 14 + vs <10).
"This general pattern is consistent across every region, culture and language highlighting a critical developmental window during which smartphone ownership appears to have the greatest impact."
While delaying smartphone access is associated with better outcomes/MHQ, the benefits of delay appear to plateau around roughly age 13. In other words, waiting longer to give kids a smartphone was associated with better mental health (kids who got a smartphone at 12 reported better outcomes than those who got one at 11 who had better outcomes than those who got a smartphone at age 10, etc..), but those who first acquired a smartphone after age 13 reported roughly the same outcomes as those who acquired their first smartphone at age 13 (both groups reported significantly better results than those who got smartphones before 13).
Importantly, this study measures the mental health of young adults aged 18-24, which suggests the benefits of delaying a smartphone persist even after that child eventually gets a smartphone and into young adulthood. Those who got smartphones later, reported significantly better overall Mind Health as young adults, and reported significantly lower incidence of a variety of mental health problems (see below) including suicidal thoughts or intentions:
Unsurprisingly, kids who get smartphones earlier, also tend to first access social media at a younger age:
Many parents don't want their kids to have smartphones, but worry that delaying their kids' access to smartphones will harm their relationship with their kids or prevent their kids from making friends; however, the data suggests these concerns are likely misguided. Kids who got smartphones later were more likely to report being "close to family" and to have "close friends who will help them out" in young adulthood. With that said, the benefits on relationships with friends and family associated with waiting appear to plateau or even start to reverse course when waiting beyond age 13 or 14.
Problems with the Study
This is a groundbreaking study with major implications for society. It is the first study to measure the association between when a child first gets a smartphone and their mental health years later as young adults. Measuring mental health is notoriously difficult, but the evidence is overwhelming that
"for those who acquired their smartphone below the age of 13, their overall mind health and wellbeing is progressively lower with each younger age of first smartphone ownership."
But there are a number of remaining concerns/open questions from this report. The most obvious limitation (which the authors acknowledge) is that this is correlational observational data. Yes, kids in the study who got smartphones earlier on average have worse mental health as young adults, but this does not necessarily imply exposure to smartphones caused their worse mental health (although it seems a likely/plausible cause).
There are also concerns about sampling bias. Participants for the Global Mind Project Survey were recruited via Google and Facebook advertisements. This helped create a very large sample, but non-randomized sample could introduce significant biases; the participants likely over-index on people who spend more time online and are likely not a representative sample. While the patterns in the data are relatively consistent across the globe, it would be nice to be able to more closely zoom in on the US specific data. The authors provide significant information on "North America" but this includes a large number of participants from Mexico who may have distinct results from Americans.
This study is unique in that is measures the mental health of young adults years after they received their first smartphone. This approach provides important insights on the long-term effects of early smartphone access, but the downside of this approach is the findings are already somewhat dated. A now 22-year-old evaluated in the study who owned their first smartphone at age 10 received that smartphone in roughly 2013. Smartphones (and social media) today are quite a bit different than they were 10+ years ago...I intuitively suspect they are worse/more harmful now, but we don't have clear data here. If 2025 smartphones are more harmful than smartphones from 10+ years ago, this study would theoretically underestimate the negative effects of early smartphone access.
Where do we go from here?
The findings should raise levels of concern about the impact of smartphones on children. We should actively be trying to collect more data to fill some of the gaps in this study. Specifically, we should seek out randomized controlled trials on the impacts of smartphones vs dumb phones (message me if you need dumb phones for a study) as well as conduct other long & medium-term studies based on more current/recent technology.
While we should of course continue to study the impacts of smartphones on children the authors feel this data alone justifies significant action right now:
"Altogether, given the profound consequence for human development and long-term flourishing, we urge a response that matches the gravity of the threat. Sceptics may argue that existing evidence does not yet meet the threshold for definitive causal claims and therefore should not drive policy. However, this fails to account for the pragmatic imperatives of public health. When children exhibit this magnitude and severity of mental distress and diminished functionings, intervention should not wait. While the risk of psychological reactance must be considered, the developmental harms of unregulated access remain too great to justify inaction."
I'll leave aside the authors' recommendations on regulation and public policy for now, but parents are right to be concerned about the impacts of smartphones on children. If you want to delay kids' access to smartphones, we have a smartphone alternative at Zalpha Mobile. It's a phone for basic communication, without all the junk. We like to call it a dumb phone for modern times.
