Getting a Smartphone Too Young Linked to Lasting Mental Health Harm
Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
Briana Mercola
4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
- Receiving a smartphone before age 13 is strongly linked to poorer mental health in young adulthood, including higher rates of suicidal thoughts, aggression, and detachment from reality
- Early smartphone ownership often leads to earlier social media access, which raises the risk of cyberbullying, harmful content exposure, poor family relationships, and disrupted sleep
- The most severe effects are seen in females, with nearly half of those given a phone at age 5 or 6 reporting severe suicidal thoughts compared to less than a third who received one at age 13
- English-speaking countries face greater risks due to earlier average ages of phone and social media access and more exposure to harmful, exploitative online content
- Delaying smartphone and social media access, teaching digital literacy before use, and setting phone-free times significantly improve emotional resilience and self-worth over the long term
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Are you comfortable handing a developing mind a device that can raise suicidal thoughts? |
| 0:05.0 | We can emotional resilience and disrupt sleep years later. |
| 0:09.0 | Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. |
| 0:12.0 | Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. |
| 0:18.0 | No reading required. Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights. |
| 0:22.6 | Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster. |
| 0:28.6 | Today we're examining what happens when you receive a smartphone before age 13 and |
| 0:32.6 | why that timing is strongly linked to poorer mental health in young adulthood, |
| 0:36.6 | including higher risks of suicidal thoughts, aggression, and why that timing is strongly linked to poorer mental health in young adulthood, |
| 0:43.2 | including higher risks of suicidal thoughts, aggression, and attachment from reality. |
| 0:44.7 | I'm Alara Sky. We're drawing from global data on more than 100,000 people aged 18 to 24 across 163 countries, |
| 0:54.1 | where researchers evaluated mind health across 47 emotional, |
| 0:57.0 | social, cognitive, and physical functions. The pattern was clear. Earlier smartphone |
| 1:04.3 | ownership predicted worse outcomes later. |
| 1:07.4 | On the mind health quotient, those who first owned a smartphone at age 13 average a score of 30, |
| 1:13.4 | while those who got one at age five average just one. That shift reflects a substantial decline in |
| 1:19.2 | overall functioning, not just mood swings, more severe symptoms with fewer positive capabilities. |
| 1:25.7 | The most pronounced problems clustered in early owners, |
| 1:28.9 | suicidal thoughts, aggression, |
| 1:31.2 | feelings of detachment from reality and hallucinations. |
| 1:34.9 | Among females who received a phone at age 5 or 6, |
| 1:38.2 | 48% reported severe suicidal thoughts, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Briana Mercola, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Briana Mercola and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.