Parents are seen handing phones to children younger than ever, with reasons like convenience, safety, and social pressures taking the lead. However, experts urge parents to exercise stronger oversight and patience as pediatric studies link early phone ownership to depression, obesity, and poor sleep.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, conducted on some 10,600 adolescents across 21 research sites in the United States, examined the relationship between the age when children receive smartphones and how the age of ownership relates to mental and physical health.

According to this research, almost 64 per cent of all children receive smartphones by the age of 12 and another 25 per cent by 14. This means that in the age range of 8 to 12, children average between 5 hours of screen time daily.

The study probed deeper. It looked into 12-year-olds with and without smartphones. Predictably, and in congruence with similar studies in the past, children who owned smartphones were at least 30 per cent more vulnerable to feelings of depression than those who did not own the devices.

In addition, 40 per cent of phone owners were obese, and 60 per cent of them suffered from sleep deprivation. The biggest shocker of all: the earlier the children received smartphones, the higher the chances of these issues.

Scientists caution that this is not a study that proves a direct correlation between smartphones and issues such as depression, obesity and sleep deprivation. However, some of the most crucial development that occurs in children occurs in adolescence, and pre-teens and teenagers may not have the self-control to manage unfettered access to social media, games and constant notification interruptions. This itself is enough to crowd out sleep, exercise and in-person social interaction.

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According to psychologist Inara Selim, the stakes are even higher as her concerns lie beyond simply sleep loss and depression. They diversify into what happens to a child's social development when a screen replaces face-to-face interaction during these formative years.

“Social skills aren't innate; they're built through repeated, real-time practice — reading tone, sitting with awkward silences, learning how to repair a friendship after a conflict,” stresses Inara.

“A twelve-year-old is still developing that capacity; constant notifications and curated online interactions can quietly erode the learning curve before it's had a chance to form.”

To her, every hour spent on a screen instead of with peers is an hour not spent learning how to actually be with people, and that's the quieter cost behind these numbers.

For parents, this means wading into a grey area and allowing children some level of control, without compromising on their mental and physical health. In this day and age, smartphones cannot be deemed all evil and banished from their lives. The pervasive nature of technology will require them to operate on screens on some level or another, and there is no way to work around that.

Scientists have some advice for parents in this regard. They have termed this approach “dedicated oversight”. This includes delaying the ownership of devices as far as possible, enforcing rules such as limiting daily screen time, including non-negotiable screen-free times during the crucial times of the day such as before sleep or right after waking up and key parental controls such as on certain apps and sites. Parents must also encourage healthier alternatives such as outdoor play and sports and physical reading.

Psychologist Faria-A-Khair has another perspective to supplement the one above. “Children who own smartphones and are screen-dependent from an early age often suffer from inattention and hyperactivity, hampering their academic performance and rendering them unable to build meaningful connections with people around them, including friends, family members, relatives and even their own parents.”

She feels that instead of going to extremes, parents must compromise and meet children halfway.

“We need to spend time with our children,” stresses Faria. “We must build lasting connections with our children to create a sense of secure attachment for them and pull them away from screen dependence.”

Khair emphasises the importance of taking some time out to talk to kids, taking them close to nature, and arranging play dates with children of similar-minded parents. “The idea is to rebuild in children the habit of exchanging thoughts in person, and make parents the safe space of their lives, as opposed to screen time.”