A groundbreaking study from the Global Mind Project has revealed a direct link between childhood smartphone use and severe personality disorders in young women, with nearly half of those who got their first device at age five or six now experiencing suicidal thoughts and long-term emotional turmoil. This alarming pattern underscores how early immersion in digital culture is rewiring young brains, leading to profound cognitive and social dysfunctions by early adulthood.
The research, published this July in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, surveyed over 100,000 individuals aged 18 to 24 across 163 countries, focusing on Generation Z—the first cohort raised with smartphones and social media from infancy. Led by neuroscientist Dr. Tara Thiagarajan of Sapien Labs, the Global Mind Project drew from data on nearly two million people to examine the impacts of early device exposure on mental health, highlighting how it disrupts emotional regulation, social skills, and cognitive development in ways that persist into adulthood.
Naturalnews.com reports: It reveals a consistent and troubling pattern: the earlier a child gets their first smartphone, the more severe their mental health struggles become by the time they reach early adulthood. Among the most alarming findings: 46 percent of young women who got their first smartphone at ages five or six now report having suicidal thoughts, compared to just 26 percent of those who waited until 13 or older. For men, the rate is also elevated, rising from 17 percent to 28 percent depending on the age of first phone ownership.
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Mental well-being scores, measured on a scale incorporating 47 psychological functions, dropped dramatically based on the age of first smartphone use. Those who received their first phone at age 13 scored an average of 30 points on the well-being scale. For those given smartphones at just five years old, the score fell to a mere one.
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Other severe symptoms, including hallucinations, dissociation from reality and emotional dysregulation, were significantly more common among early smartphone users. Young women were especially vulnerable, showing markedly higher rates of self-image issues, emotional instability and decreased resilience. Young men, by contrast, reported greater difficulty with empathy, calmness and emotional stability.
While the pattern of decline is global, English-speaking countries, specifically the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, showed the most severe effects than peers in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. Researchers attribute this to both earlier average smartphone adoption and a “greater volume of harmful, hyper-sexualized or exploitative content” in English-language digital spaces, driven by AI-powered social media algorithms.
The study also found that though smartphones are the delivery mechanism, social media appears to drive much of the damage.
Social media access explains about 40 percent of the connection between early smartphone use and poor mental health outcomes. Cyberbullying (10 percent), disrupted family relationships (13 percent) and sleep disturbances (12 percent) also played significant roles, many of which are exacerbated by social media platforms that encourage round-the-clock engagement. Sleep, in particular, emerged as a critical factor. Children with early smartphone access often experience significant sleep disruption, not only from social media but from gaming, streaming and other screen-based activities.
Authors urge policymakers to create smartphone age restrictions
In response to these findings, the researchers are calling for sweeping policy changes to regulate childhood access to smartphones and social media.
Their recommendations include minimum age restrictions for smartphone ownership and social media access, ideally no earlier than age 13; mandatory digital literacy education before children can join social media platforms; graduated access restrictions, where younger children only use basic phones without internet or social media apps; and stricter enforcement of age limits and penalties for tech companies that fail to comply.
“Just as we restrict alcohol, tobacco and motor vehicle operation to older adolescents and adults based on risk to developing minds and bodies, so too should we restrict smartphones and social media during the critical formative years,” the authors claimed.
