Overview
- The study found that teens who used smartphones more than five hours a day had about twice the odds of depression and obesity and roughly double the odds of insufficient sleep compared with those who used phones two hours or less.
- The research showed that simply getting a first smartphone at age 13 was not associated with depression or obesity by 14 but was linked to higher rates of insufficient sleep.
- The paper, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, followed 1,959 adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study and did not distinguish which phone activities drove harm.
- Authors and clinicians say sleep disruption appears to be a likely pathway and recommend practical steps such as removing phones from bedrooms at night and setting clear daily use limits.
- UK leaders have urged tech companies to add device-level safety controls and warned they will legislate to stop minors sending or receiving nude images, a move that presses firms such as Apple and Google to tighten defaults.