Smartphones have
reshaped childhood
Smartphones weren't designed with kids in mind – but they’ve reshaped childhood almost overnight. In the UK, 89% of 12-year-olds now own one, and so do a quarter of children aged 5 to 7. On average, kids get their first smartphone aged nine.
Instead of growing up slowly, children are being pulled into a digital world built to keep them hooked. The impact on their development, mental health and relationships runs deep – and we can’t afford to look away any longer.
Here are some of the biggest issues:
Opportunity cost
Compared to any other generation in history, children growing up in the smartphone era spend less time outdoors, less time playing, less time reading, less time moving and more time scrolling, alone.
Harmful content
Smartphones mean explicit, violent, and extreme content is only ever a few clicks away, often served up by algorithms when kids aren’t looking for it. Once children see these things, they can never be unseen.
Mental health
Teenage anxiety, depression and self-harm rates have skyrocketed since 2010 – when kids started getting smartphones. Evidence shows a direct link between early smartphone use and declining mental health.
Addiction
The tech giants’ business model is simple: the longer kids stay on their platforms, the more money they make. That’s why apps are packed with addictive features – and why kids find it so hard to put them down.
Attention
The average teen now receives over 200 notifications a day – fragmenting their focus and making it harder to concentrate on schoolwork, hobbies or real-life friendships. Constant distraction is the new normal.
Family life
Smartphones' addictive design means they can quietly start to take centre stage in family life – causing arguments, battles over screen time, and making it harder to share real, uninterrupted time together.
Cyberbullying
Arguments and fallouts used to end at the school gate. Now they follow kids home, lingering on their screens day and night – with no safe space to switch off, process or recover.
Sleep
The blue light from screens disrupts melatonin, making it harder to fall asleep, while endless scrolling and late-night notifications keep kids wired when they should be resting.
Grooming
TikTok, Snapchat, and Roblox aren’t just playgrounds for kids – they’re hunting grounds for predators. They’re often used by sexual predators to target children with their first smartphones
