Are young people sadder, angrier? New study blames smartphones
A study claims smartphones harm youth mental health, urging delayed ownership to combat rising aggression and anxiety among young users.
Smartphones, previously accused of making people dumb, make young people sad and angry, a new study has claimed, calling for staggering the age at which people start using these devices.

The younger the age at which a person gets a smartphone, the poorer their mental health and well-being, said the report from Sapien Labs — “The Youth Mind: Rising aggression and anger”— released on Thursday. It added that the “feelings of aggression, anger, and hallucinations that are rising most sharply with each younger year are associated with the progressively younger age at which children are acquiring smartphones”.
We are “in the midst of a youth mental crisis,” it added on the basis of studying the mental health and well-being of 10,475 internet-enabled adolescents aged 13-17 across the US and India.
The report’s findings, while not surprising, are likely to generate debate. Smartphones have become the primary avenue to the internet for many young people, especially in developing (but digitally connected) countries such as India, and open windows to education that may otherwise be difficult to access. But they also expose young people to social media, with its attendant ills, and make them possible targets of online scamsters and predators. Australia, for instance, has banned children under the age of 16 years from using social media. India’s own draft data protection rules released recently, require both age verification and parental consent for those below the age of 18.
The Sapien study found an alarming trend of declining mental health in adolescents, particularly a generational decline in mind health and well-being with adolescents aged 13-17 faring worse than young adults aged 18-24 who in turn fare worse than those aged 25-34.
“This pattern is even visible year by year where 13-year-olds fare worse than 14-year-olds who in turn fare worse than 15-year-olds and so on. The trend is particularly pronounced in girls where 65% are distressed or struggling in a manner that substantially impairs their ability to function effectively in the world and would be of clinical concern,” added the report.
The report argued that while several factors have traditionally been identified as drivers of poor mental health, one key change in younger generations is the arrival of smartphones, which were introduced in 2008, coinciding with the onset of rising mental health problems.
According to the report, the age at which children get their smartphone is getting steadily younger; 13-year-olds in the US reported getting their phone at approximately age 10 with 24% getting their phones even earlier. In contrast, 17-year-olds reported getting their phone, on average, at age 12 with only 10% before age 10. In India, 13-year-olds reported getting their smartphone, on average, at age 11 compared to 17-year-olds who reported getting their phones, on average, at age 14.
“Although it’s still not yet fully clear how owning a smartphone from a younger age gives rise to these problems, it’s well known that the virtual world provides exposure to content that is inappropriate for a younger audience and a substantial departure from the family- and community-centric experiences of the past. In addition, the numerous hours spent online disturbs sleep and displaces crucial in-person interactions needed to learn how to navigate social dynamics and conflict,” said the report.
It added that this decline in mental health and well-being is not only characterised by sadness and anxiety, but also by the emergence of newer symptoms such as unwanted thoughts and a sense of being detached from reality.
“The dominant problems in 13-17-year-olds extend beyond sadness and anxiety to include unwanted, strange thoughts and a sense of being detached from reality, while the problems that are increasing fastest with each younger age group include feelings of aggression towards others, anger and irritability and hallucinations,” the report said.
“These rapidly increasing problems, in particular aggression and anger and irritability in females, can in a large part be attributed to the increasingly younger age at which children are now getting a smartphone. Among those who get their smartphone before age 10, 60% are distressed or struggling, 55% feel sad and anxious, 49% have a sense of being detached from reality, 38% feel aggression and anger, 17% experience hallucinations and 39% have suicidal thoughts at a level that impairs their ability to function effectively,” it added.
The report concludes by calling for urgent societal action to safeguard today’s youth, including delaying smartphone ownership, as a way to reduce suicide and aggression in adolescence. It also called for parents, schools, and governments to reduce early childhood exposure to smartphones.
“Mental health specialists in India are also seeing adverse psychological impact among youngsters related to Internet use including related to use of smartphones. We are staring at a major crisis in near future, for sure,” said Dr Rajesh Sagar, professor, department of psychiatry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.