The Impact of Smartphones on Child Development: What Parents Should Know

From mastering obscure shortcuts to effortlessly juggling applications, young people have a comprehensive sophistication when it comes to understanding smartphones. Having grown up in the digital age, they have a level of familiarity that will often surpass that of older generations. So, is there a need for parental controls on mobile phones, considering they are also spending an unprecedented amount of time online:

Ofcom reported that 96% of 5-15 year olds are online and 33% of 5- 7 year olds now use social media unsupervised. 

It’s second nature for everyone now; the moment our alarms go off, we’re reaching for our smartphones to navigate the modern world. As adults, this reliance is something we have grown into, but for our children, these devices have always had a pervasive influence. Technology offers young people numerous benefits, often so integrated we barely give them a second thought. However, there is also a darker side to social media and smartphones that we cannot afford to overlook, highlighting the need to understand children and technology’s positive and negative effects. At Study Mind, we understand that parents can often lack the confidence in managing their children’s screen time, are unsure about their children’s online activities and need guidance. As parents and carers, we must empower young people to control their smartphone use, preventing it from controlling them. Therefore, this article will discuss the pros and cons of parents monitoring social media and strategies for approaching this important topic.

Social Media

Adolescence represents an important and potentially vulnerable period for social and emotional development. This is why understanding both the beneficial and detrimental effects of technology on children, and critically examining the question of should children be allowed to use social media, is crucial to driving the protection of their safety and mental wellbeing.

Source: Office for National Statistics 

Positive effects of smartphones on child development 

Educational Benefits

Learning and research is fundamental to young people making sense of the world around them. One of the key positive effects of smartphones on child development is seen in education. Whether at home or in the classroom, smart phones have granted young people access to a wealth of information, accessible within seconds from countless sources.

Online education includes apps, videos and websites that are able to supplement school learning and also encourage independent study. When driven by recommendations of teachers, online education can positively impact learning through diverse methods. This can also improve the engagement of students by using interactive platforms and encouraging creative thinking. This is particularly beneficial for young people with special educational needs. A survey by Ofcom found that the majority of children aged 12-15 thought that supplementary online content has assisted with both school and homework. Research from the University of Cambridge found that online learning had led to increased student engagement in mathematics. Further to this, research showed that almost 2/3 of parents of 3-5 year olds in the UK believe smartphones and tablets support their child’s development, while nine in ten parents believe educational apps can benefit their child’s learning (89%), digital skills (89%), and numeracy skills (89%).

Interacting with others on social media requires online communication, which can improve real-world digital literacy, a skill that is required for most careers. Further to this, young people are also able to research and understand future career choices through influencers who offer authentic insights, empowering them to make more informed decisions about their futures and inspiring them to envision their goals. 

Social media is a tool that can broaden young people’s horizons, as they connect with and learn from voices worldwide. No longer being limited by local views, they are exposed to diverse cultures, new ideas and global issues, developing social awareness and empathy.  Parents see understanding as a powerful tool for engaging young people in causes they care about. Equipped with these insights, young people are able to better navigate current events and engage politically at a younger age, contributing to their local communities and finding their voice.

Communication and Social Skills

The most obvious benefit of social media for young people is being able to sustain relationships with family and friends and build new ones, no matter where they are in the world. These opportunities enable children to feel they have a strong support system, to be included in online conversations and share ideas with their peer groups. Studies have shown that this leads to a reduction in loneliness and contributes to their self-identify and life satisfaction. In the context of school, this also means that young people are able to build their own group communication and collaboration for projects and help one another.

A less immediately apparent benefit is young people being able to see representation that, without social media, they might not have otherwise been able to have. This is through online communities and forums for any group within society today. The NSPCC reported significant benefits for young people in the LGBTQ+ community from being online. It is an excellent way to connect with others sharing similar experiences, who might otherwise feel alone in their identity and lived experience. Social media also creates a space for self-expression and creativity, which helps to develop a sense of self.

Negative effects of smartphones on child development 

Impact on Mental Health

Technology is almost impossible to remove from children’s daily lives. Smart phones are almost always designed by companies that use attention engineering to encourage the use of their product. We don’t often recognise the subtlety of tools designed to keep us on our phones, such as the ‘three dots’ that appear when messaging someone, prompting us to wait on the app for a message before it has even arrived. Unfortunately, the cost of persuasive design affects most adults, and almost all children, highlighting a significant negative effect of smartphones on child development.

A report from the Royal Society of Public Health revealed that 1 in 4 children now use their phone in ways resembling behavioural addiction and social media has been described as more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol.

The repeated use of social media can trigger dopamine release in the brain, similar to how drugs, alcohol and gambling affect our pleasure response. This makes it harder to resist and potentially leads to addiction-like behaviour. Extensive research reveals a concerning relationship between repetitive social media use and mental health, linking prolonged use to stress, anxiety and depression.

The persistent and increasing use of phones is replacing time spent on other important daily activities: 

• Social Connection: Smartphones play a role in societal shifts and have been liked to decreased real life social connection, which is strongly associated with poorer mental health and depression.
• Physical Activity: Smartphone usage in young people has led to a reduction in physical activity and a more sedentary lifestyle. Encouragingly, studies have demonstrated that strategies used to reduce screen time have been linked with a substantial rise in young people engaging with sports and exercise.
• Sleep: Sleep and mental health are tightly linked. Screen-time is also leading to delays in bedtime and reduced total sleep duration due to the time on screens replacing sleep time and the effect of “light emitted by the devices on circadian timing, sleep physiology and alertness.” There is a high prevalence of poor sleep amongst children and teenagers and even the presence of a TV screen itself can lead to poorer sleep quality. Devices are also associated with insomnia-related symptoms.

Young people often seek external validation through the use of social media leading to constant comparison and the desire to meet unrealistic standards. Social media has proven to be harmful to young people’s body image satisfaction. Young people who follow celebrities on social media more frequently, are more likely to have online social anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Overexposure to Inappropriate Content

Many children are exposed to harmful and illegal content through the use of social media. Inappropriate content includes:

• Child Sexual Abuse Material 
• Content Promoting Self-Harm and Suicide
• Hate Speech and Extremist Content
• Violent and Graphic Content
• Content Promoting Eating Disorders
• Illegal Activities
• Cyberbullying and Harassment
• Misinformation and Disinformation
• Grooming

Research by Children’s Commissioner reported that in lockdown, “nearly half of children and teens have seen content they’d rather avoid, leaving them feeling uncomfortable, scared and confused.” The British Board of Film Association stated that 14-year-olds see the most harmful content with a quarter seeing an inappropriate video every day. Children will often be exposed to inappropriate content, both accidentally and by actively searching. A study found that there was a relationship between excessively using Instagram and becoming desensitised to content around deliberate self-harm and a feeling of belonging amongst those who self-harmed. Despite how common it is for children to be exposed to inappropriate content, research from UCL’s Institute of Education shows that of those who have experienced image-based sexual harassment, only 2% reported it to their school. In addition to this, cyber bullying is also a growing problem, with 70% of young people saying they have experienced it.

Cognitive Functioning and Attention Issues

Excessive phone use can also lead to lower cognitive functioning such as having worse working memory and attention deficit. Smartphones are therefore disrupting pupil’s learning both at home and in the classroom. It can take children up to 20 minutes to re-engage in a task after engaging with their device for something unrelated. This consequently, makes it harder for teachers to identify learning difficulties due to them being replicated by the effects of intensive phone use. The use of social media has also been shown to be linked with a higher prevalence of new-onset disruptive behaviour disorders.

Should Children Be Allowed to Use Social Media?

With the internet and technology being such an integral part of young people’s lives, it is vital that we guide their access to the advantages of the digital world while also ensuring their protection from the considerable risks. Striking this balance requires a coordinated response from governmental bodies, technology companies, schools and at home, with parents playing a key role, whose potential we will now consider. One crucial aspect of this is the implementation of parental controls on mobile phones. 

Why Parental Controls are Essential

The Role of Parental Controls

Parental controls on mobile phones are tools designed to manage children’s access to and use of technology and exposure to content. In order to provide a more age-appropriate and therefore safer digital environment, these controls can be implemented across different devices and platforms.

Throughout our discussion of parental controls, these fundamental goals are our priority and should always be central to our decisions regarding young people and technology.

• Ensure young people’s safety from harmful online content
• Protect and promote the mental well-being of young people
• Cultivate a positive relationship with technology
• Empower children with the skills for self-management of their online behaviour
• Encourage a balanced and healthy lifestyle

Best Parental Control Programs

Technical Controls

When we think of ‘parental controls’, pardon is most likely to come to mind is technical controls, since this is how it is most commonly advertised. Technical control can be split into restrictive and monitoring controls.

Restrictive controls include anything that prevents young people from using certain parts of their smartphones:

1. Filtering content by restricting access to websites, apps, games, movies, TV shows and music. This can be based on categories that you believe to be inappropriate or age ratings can be used as a guideline.
2. Blocking the use of certain apps or features completely. For example, these could be password-controlled.
3. Screen time management by setting time limits or hours in the day that the devices are able to be used.
4. Controlling expenditures involves managing in-app purchases and downloads from app stores.

Monitoring controls include anything that is able to track, observe, or record a young person’s online activities and device usage:

1. Tracking websites visited, apps used or search history
2. Communication monitoring of text messages, calls and social media interactions
3. Location tracking

Where can you find these controls?

• Operating Systems: Windows, iOS and Android all have built-in parental control features.
• Devices: Smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and gaming consoles all have their own parental control settings.
• Apps: Many individual apps, especially social media and video platforms, offer parental control or restricted mode options.
• Web Browsers: Some browsers have settings or extensions to filter content.
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Some ISPs offer network-level filtering that applies to all devices connected to your home Wi-Fi.
• Third-Party Parental Control Apps: Numerous standalone apps (like Bark, Qustodio, Net Nanny, and Google Family Link) offer a wider range of features and cross-platform compatibility. These are often considered the best parental control programs available.

Protection or Punishment: Should Parents Monitor Their Children’s Smartphone Usage?

Pros of Parental Controls

Technical parental controls offer several potential benefits. Firstly, they can help to reduce daily screen time. Research has shown that with greater parental control, preadolescents spend less time on social media, leading to fewer comparisons with others and better mental health. Furthermore, restricting access to content can protect young people from harmful material and mitigate online dangers, allowing for safer exploration of the digital world. Also, monitoring controls can provide parents with insight into their children’s online activities and help them stay informed.

Cons of Parental Controls

Some controls operate on an ‘all-or-nothing’ function, which can lead to situations where children’s access to even non-harmful functions on the smartphone is restricted, disadvantaging them by limiting previously discussed opportunities.

If technical controls are used in isolation, this could worsen the relationship young people have with both their parents and their smartphone usage. Unfortunately, solely relying on restrictive mediation could reduce the mutual trust shared between parent and child. This is due to feelings of privacy invasion, limited independence and self-expression and an overall sense that their autonomy has been undermined. Beyond this potential breakdown in trust, there’s also the risk that children may rebel against overly restrictive controls, attempting to access blocked content or finding ways around monitoring. This means that even with technical controls in place, they might not fully mitigate all risks for that child.  It is like trying to secure your house by only locking the front door but leaving all the windows wide open. That is to say, without a broader approach, simply using technical restrictions leaves young people vulnerable to other “open windows”. A review of 40 studies stated that restrictive parental controls should not be used as a discrete strategy to manage young people’s use of social media. It highlights the importance of a child-centred approach. 

Active Mediation

The other form of parental control, perhaps less immediately recognised, is active mediation. This approach should be prioritised before introducing restrictive controls.  Active mediation involves parents actively engaging with their children about their online experiences. We hope that families can work towards making conversations about smartphones and all they involve as normal as any other dinner table topic, highlighting the evolving role of parents and social media.

1. Start an open dialogue: Initiate a conversation by sharing your feelings about social media and the online world. By sharing your own thoughts and feelings, you’ll create a safer space where your child also feels comfortable sharing theirs.

• Have regular check-ins
• Use open-ended questions such as, “What are some interesting things you have seen on social media recently?” 
• Encourage critical thinking, helping them to evaluate online information and understand the broader effects of technology on children.

2. Show enthusiasm towards what your child likes to do on their smartphones. Ask which apps are their favourites and why, and ask them to show you how they work. View this as a journey of learning about technology together. Watch videos, apps, websites and games online together.  Show interest in their online friends and discuss the difference between online and offline friendships  
3. Lead by example: It is going to be hard to convince your children to use their phones less, if the adults around them are always using them too. Try to have set times when you also are not using your phones, such as at meal times and just after waking up or before going to sleep. 
4. Support first: Make it clear that you will not overreact if they tell you something has happened on their social media. Reassure them that you want to support them and that they can always come to you. Also, educate them on other ways they can report incidents so that they feel that they have options and aren’t solely reliant on you. Discuss online safety scenarios and brainstorm together how they might respond.  
5. Set Boundaries Together: By including young people’s views when deciding on parental controls, the effectiveness of those measures will be improved. Sit down together and collaboratively establish the limits and monitors that will be used to keep your child safe, ensuring they understand the reasoning behind them.  

At Study Mind we believe there is a strong argument for a balanced approach when it comes to parental controls, with an emphasis on not just what controls to use but also how they are used.

Tips for Parents to Manage Smartphone Usage

Here are our top tips for using technical controls effectively:

• Choose granular controls: Select settings that allow you to restrict specific categories of apps or device features, rather than applying broad “all-or-nothing” restrictions.
• Justify your choices: Ensure that you have a clear and legitimate rationale behind the decision to use certain controls and only use them when truly necessary. 
• Choose interactive controls: Utilise controls or apps that facilitate parent-child interactions and offer helpful parenting advice.
• Adapt to Development: Use developmental milestones as a guide for gradually loosening controls, aligning a young people’s autonomy over social media with their capacity to handle online challenges.

There is a link between the age of first exposure and heavy internet use later in adolescence, emphasising the importance of a mindful introduction to technology. We recommend this excellent resource for parents to understand age-specific developmental milestones, technology integration and potential risks: Digital Childhood Report.

Conclusion

In navigating our children’s digital lives, we must acknowledge the dual nature of technology, balancing its benefits with potential downsides. Both monitoring their social media and guiding digital responsibility are crucial for reducing screen time, ensuring safer online exploration, and improving mental well-being. Parents must always be mindful that controls without open communication can foster distrust and feelings of privacy invasion. Remember, this is a dynamic process requiring ongoing conversations and reassessments of monitoring strategies. By adopting a holistic approach to managing your child’s smartphone use, we can foster a healthier relationship with technology, promote their overall well-being, and ultimately empower young people to confidently navigate the online world with an understanding of its inherent risks.

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