Children of the war in front of screens: why a smartphone under the age of 13 is a risk for mental disorders
During the war, Ukrainian children more and more often stay at home, are restricted in their movement, avoid going outside and socializing with their peers. This leads to the fact that they spend a significant part of their free time in front of a smartphone screen — in a virtual space where the boundaries of reality are blurred and there is no protection from informational or psychological violence. For many parents, the gadget has become a convenient way to keep their child in a safe place, but the latest international study shows that early access to smartphones is far from a safe compromise.
What the researchers found out
The results of a large-scale study published on the platform Taylor & Francis Online, suggest that children who receive a smartphone before the age of 13 have an increased risk of developing anxiety disorders, aggressive behavior, impaired emotional control, and even suicidal thoughts in early adulthood. The survey covered children and teenagers from different countries, cultures and linguistic backgrounds, and the results were equally disturbing for all regions.
The age of first access to social networks turned out to be the most significant factor explaining the negative impact. According to the researchers, it is responsible for about 40% of the relationship between early smartphone use and mental health problems. Other factors significantly influencing this relationship were cyberbullying, family problems, sleep disturbances, and online psychological abuse.
Algorithms against a child’s brain
Early access to the smartphone means early access to social networks that operate on algorithms that exploit the vulnerabilities of the human psyche. The child’s brain is not yet able to recognize these mechanisms and protect against them. As a result, the child quickly becomes a victim of manipulation, emotional oversaturation, comparing himself with unrealistic images and artificially selected content.
These consequences are especially pronounced in countries with developed access to the English-language Internet. There, the average age of first use of social networks is about 11 years. In regions of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, where this age is higher (14–16 years), negative effects are less common. The study showed that in English-speaking countries, it is the early age of entering the digital world that explains up to 70% of negative consequences, from sleep disorders to sexual violence (especially against girls).
The consequences are not limited to individual cases
The harm from phones is not related to the amount of time spent in front of the screen. It is about the age at which a child first starts using a smartphone and social networks. This moment shapes her further interaction with the online environment, and causes a mass, not an exclusive effect. That is, it is not about isolated cases of mental disorders, but about a wide increase in risks in the entire generation.
In addition, even those children who do not have smartphones can become victims of bullying, aggression or social pressure from their peers who already live in a digital environment. Isolation that results from “falling behind” others can lead to even more serious psychological problems. Thus, the problem goes beyond the personal choice of parents.
What needs to be done
The authors of the study emphasize that relying only on parents to control the use of gadgets is inappropriate. It is a systemic threat to which the entire society must respond. They offer several practical measures:
- Mandatory implementation of digital literacy education, which will include skills to protect against algorithmic influence, recognize cyberbullying and develop healthy online habits. Just like learning to drive a car, it also requires training.
- Establishment of strict control over compliance with age restrictions in social networks. Companies should be required to verify a user’s age, and violations should be subject to financial penalties.
- Complete ban on access to social networks for children under the age of 13. This should not be limited to the platforms themselves, but should also cover devices due to functional limitations.
- Gradual restriction of access to smartphones as such. Instead of a modern gadget, you can offer children special phones without social networks, which retain basic functions, but do not connect to algorithmically controlled platforms.
It is interesting that, although the main focus is on children up to 13 years old, the authors of the study suggest expanding the restrictions to the older age group – up to 18 years old. This approach is already used in many countries in areas related to tobacco, alcohol or gambling – with clear limits of responsibility for adults who allow minors access to harmful substances.
While the researchers acknowledge that there is no definitive evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship yet, the magnitude of the problem that the statistics capture calls for an immediate response. Delaying the answer only increases the probability that future generations will enter adulthood with already formed psychological deformations – anxiety, low self-esteem, a habit of aggression, dependence on external evaluation.
It is not only about the harm from smartphones, but about the fact that children in war conditions remain doubly vulnerable – physically and psychologically. Ignoring digital dangers only increases their vulnerability in a situation where family resources are exhausted and institutional support is lacking. It should be taken into account that the experience of early digital interaction forms both the habits and the structure of the child’s brain.
