The key to a smartphone free childhood is enforcing 4 ‘simple’ rules, says NYU professor

When — and if — to give your child a smartphone has become a hot topic over recent months.

Parents are citing evidence that social media can increase the risk of mental health issues as a reason to stop their children from using smartphones, but they’re facing a number of challenges — not least peer pressure — which make it hard to enforce the rules at home.

Jonathan Haidt, NYU professor and author of “The Anxious Generation,” is one of the brains behind what’s become known as the smartphone-free childhood movement. He has some advice for parents struggling with this, saying tackling the issues of smartphone use in children requires parents to work together.

“The reason why this is such a global problem and the reason why many parents feel so powerless is that when we each act alone and try to say: ‘No, you’re not getting a smartphone,’ our child says: ‘But I’m the only one who doesn’t have one. I’m excluded,'” Haidt told CNBC host Tania Bryer at the World Economic Forum.

“So when we face this as individuals, we’re trapped, and it gets worse and worse, and because we’re stuck in a collective action problem, the only way out is through collective action.”

His comments come as the smartphone-free-childhood movement gains traction, with organizations popping up around the world. These include the U.K.-based Smartphone Free Childhood, Austin-based Wait Until 8^th, Unplugged in Canada, No Es Momento in Mexico, and the Heads Up Alliance in Australia.

Haidt said there are what he calls “four simple norms” that can help parents delay giving smartphones to their children and teenagers.

“Two of them need government, two don’t,” Haidt explained. “Four simple norms and if most of us do them we solve the problem.”

The first is not giving children smartphones before age 14. “Let them have a flip phone, but remember, a smartphone isn’t really a phone. They could make phone calls on it, but it’s a multi-purpose device by which the world can get to your children,” Haidt said.

Children who received their first smartphone at an older age report fewer mental health harms, a global study of 27,969 18–24-year-olds by U.S. non-profit Sapien Labs found in 2023.

It showed that 74% of female respondents who got their first phone at age six said they were distressed or struggling but this reduced to 52% for those who got their first smartphone at age 15.

For male respondents, these feelings reduced from 42% for those who got their first smartphone at age six, to 36% for those who got their first smartphone at age 18.

The second is for parents to wait until 16 before allowing their children to have social media accounts.

“Social media is wildly inappropriate for minors… so no social media till 16,” Haidt said at the event pointing to the growing body of research showing how social media affects young people’s confidence.

Social media companies are trying to address some of the concerns parents and lawmakers have raised. For example, Meta’s Instagram has introduced teen accounts for kids 16 and under, which are private, have restricted settings that can only be removed by parents, and have notifications silenced during certain times.

Other efforts include Google launching YouTube Kids in 2015, as a separate app with child-friendly content and controls.

Haidt said the government and social media companies can take things further by implementing age verification checks. Australia is one of the few countries that has rolled out a social media ban for under 16s.

Haidt’s third norm is having phone-free schools, which should be government-enforced, he said. “What we’re seeing is…the teachers all hate the phones, kids can’t learn when they’re on TikTok and video games and porn during class.”

Most schools in England implement a ban or restrictions on phone use in schools, but there’s been a push to turn the guidance into law in the past year. Meanwhile, Zhengzhou has become the first city in China to pass legislation to limit phone use by students in primary and secondary schools.

Reasons for banning phones in schools include increasing attention in class and nurturing more in-person socialization.

The fourth suggested rule is replacing “digital” childhoods with real-life activities. He said we need “far more free play and independence in the real world,” and “we have to give kids back an exciting childhood.”

When it comes to collective action, Zach Rausch, a research scientist at NYU and lead researcher for “The Anxious Generation,” previously told CNBC Make It that it’s crucial to organize with the parents of the kids in your children’s class.

“Talk with their parents, and if you all together decide to delay smartphones till high school, then it’s going to be much easier because then you can say ‘Well, Johnny is also not getting his smartphone till 14’,” he said.

Rausch also called for the reinstatement of a play-based childhood where children had the autonomy to play outdoors, be independent, and take risks, which is “really crucial for human development.”