Caveat: Thank you to the parent who brought this study to our attention after they saw it in their social media feed.
An interesting new report published in May 2023 by Sapien Labs titled, “Age of First Smartphone/Tablet and Mental Wellbeing Outcomes”(1) is making its rounds on social media, especially in “some” online parenting platforms where we have now seen headings like “Kids Who Get Smartphones Earlier Become Adults with Worse Mental Health”
In a press release (2) about their report, Sapien Labs stated:
“The later the age at which these young adults first got a phone or tablet that they could carry with them in childhood, the better their mental wellbeing as adults. In particular, the dimension of mental wellbeing most improved was the Social Self, an aggregate measure of various elements such as self-confidence and the ability to relate positively to others.”
“Altogether the study’s findings indicate potential long-term risks associated with giving a child a smartphone or tablet at a young age that parents, school administrators and policy makers should be aware of.”
“These findings suggest that there are long term improvements in mental wellbeing for each year of delay in getting a smartphone during childhood said Chief Scientist Tara Thiagarajan”
We should acknowledge the cohort size for this study was significant, 27,969 young adults between the ages of 18-24 years, and the questionnaire was delivered between January to April 2023 – very recent. It should also be noted that specific to this report, it did not include youth located in Canada or the USA. The authors also made it clear that the results were correlational and not causational.
It is important for readers to understand that like most research surrounding the cause and effects of social media and technology, there are mixed findings. Specific to this issue, we are aware of two very recent “peer-reviewed” studies where they find that the age of owning a smartphone did not predict later bad mental health outcomes (3)(4)
In fact research done at the The Wheatley Institution found(5)
“Our data indicated that there is no “ideal” age for adolescents to receive their first smartphone. In fact, children who got their first phone earlier tended to have slightly better outcomes than those who got their phone later. (This may reflect that parents who give children phones at younger ages do so because their children show signs of readiness.) Overall, the data do not indicate that later is necessarily better. Instead, these findings support using a child-specific approach to smartphone timing decisions that prioritizes maturational factors more than relying on a numerical age.“
However, we also found one peer-reviewed study that also supports, to a degree, some of the results in the Sapien Labs study as well (6)
One of the questions that appear to be the foundation for Sapien Labs report that “some” have latched onto is”
“At what age did you get your own smartphone or tablet (e.g. iPad) with Internet access that you could carry with you?
Why is this question, and the data generated from it, being heralded by some? – because the authors stated in their report:
“Here we report the relationship between the age at which an individual acquired (owned) their first Internet-enabled phone, or tablet, during childhood (ages 6 to 18), and various aspects of their mental wellbeing as a young adult.”
In the Sapien Labs report, the data gathered is particularly intriguing. The authors willingly share most of their data for review. Although the report and its results were not peer-reviewed, it’s worth mentioning that credible organizations like Media Smarts Canada, which I believe Sapien Labs to be credible as well, produce similar reports that are not necessarily peer-reviewed and make their data sets available for public review.
As a retired police officer of 30 years, and now an online investigator, it is a well-known fact that the exact memory of witnesses fades over time, something that is also supported in good academic research. So, why do we mention the challenges of memory in this article? – because of this question that was asked of the 18-24-year-old participants in the Sapien Labs study:
“At what age did you get your own smartphone or tablet (e.g. iPad) with Internet access that you could carry with you?
So, our follow-up question is – “How does an 18 – 24yr old accurately remember whether they got their first smartphone at ages 6, 7, 8, or even 14yrs of age?” This is an important question to ask given that poor data in, equals poor data out. If you were to ask us to provide an accurate age of when we received our first smartphone, we would find it extremely challenging to do.
What makes the two graphs on page 5 of the Sapien Labs report interesting to us as investigators and researchers –they contain specific reported data related to a participant’s age of first smartphone ownership, including the ranges from 5 to 8 years old. Something that made us go “Hmm”!
We started our research on the market penetration of smartphones. As most are aware, the iPhone was first sold in 2007, and in 2008 the first commercially available smartphone running Android called the HTC Dream was made available to the masses. Yes, the Blackberry was also available, but mostly used in the corporate world and not by youth. Yes – there is data on the ownership of older “flip phones” by youth, but this research was specific to “smartphones” and tablets. Arguably, the traction of smartphones and tablets with teens really didn’t start to take place until around 2015.
Why is this important? – if you do the math specific to the 18-24-year-old cohort used in the Sapien Labs study – In 2007/2008 when “smartphones” first became available to the masses, a 24yr old in the study would have been around the age of 8yrs. An 18yr old in the study would have been around the age of 2yrs
Why is this important? – according to a PEW research study (7) in 2011, only 23% of teens between 12-17 had a smartphone. Only 8% were between the ages of 12-13. We couldn’t find any other research specific to youth under the age of 12 and smartphones, however, we believe it would be reasonable to suspect it would be less than 8%.
Given the above noted, how can the two graphs on page 5 of Sapien Labs report be accurate specific to the reporting by the 18-24-year-old cohort used in this study? Logically, based upon the above noted, we would suggest that the data gathered specific to when an 18-24yr old owned a smartphone is spurious at best, which can significantly skew the data points from which they reached their conclusions from. Is it possible that the 5-8 age range and the 17-18 age range in Sapiens two graphs are rank outliers and therefore a function of low numbers, or even because of potentially inaccurate reporting numbers in those groups? Our suggestion is – sure appears that this may be a factor!
Outliers can be unusual values that are either unusually high or low in comparison to the other data points. They can occur due to various reasons, such as measurement errors, inaccurate data entry mistakes, or genuinely extreme values. Outliers can have a significant impact on statistical analyses and can potentially skew the results or conclusions drawn from the data.
Another interesting observation, it would appear that the only confounding factors considered in this report are age and gender. It is well known that there are so many other confounding factors that need to be considered on topics surrounding mental health and technology. However, I will leave it to the academic experts and clinicians who specialize in the field of mental health research to discuss the methodology of the data collected in Sapien Labs report specific to that issue.
Do we believe that there are challenges with smartphones and our kiddos? – YES! Do we think that we should be routinely giving smartphones to pre-teens and early teens? – NO! Do we think that there are better phones for younger teens? – YES, check out our review on the Wisephone (8) Do we believe that all youth who get smartphones at earlier ages become adults with worse mental health challenges? -NO!
As professor and Psychologist Pete Etchella stated, “Instead of asking does social media and technology cause mental health issues, perhaps a better question might be: why do some people prosper online while others get into real difficulty”
Our opinion – we are skeptical about the data presented in the Sapien Labs report. Therefore, it is advisable for parents and caregivers to approach the report with caution, particularly regarding what appears to be problematic age numbers for first smartphone ownership. Additionally, the apparent lack of consideration for other confounding factors is worrisome. It is important not to rely solely on the Sapiens Labs report as the basis for restricting age-appropriate and balanced youth access to today’s technology and the internet.
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
References
3/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563220303125
4/ https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13851
5/ https://wheatley.byu.edu/00000182-8d78-dff6-afab-8ffd11ce0001/teaching-by-example-pdf
6/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-021-02196-5
7/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2012/03/19/cell-phone-ownership/
