A Closer Look at Teens, Phones and Mental Health

For years, the conversation around teens and smartphones has centered on whether phones are good or bad for teenagers, and if they should have access to them at all. But with more than 95% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 now having access to a smartphone¹, cell phones are simply part of adolescence and everyday life. They are here to stay.

Smartphones can help teens connect with friends, find community and express themselves creatively. But they can also contribute to isolation, comparison and unhealthy patterns of behavior. Rather than asking, “Are cell phones good or bad?” we should be asking a more useful question: “How is this teen’s phone use impacting their life?”

To assess the true impact of how a phone influences a teen’s life and mental well-being, I recommend looking at four questions:

1. What is the context?

Before focusing on screen time, consider the bigger picture: How does the phone fit into the teen’s life? Why are they using it, when are they using it, and what else may be happening in their world? For example, a teen who lives in a remote area may rely on video chats to stay connected with friends. In that case, their phone use may be helping them maintain meaningful relationships. On the other hand, a teen may be turning to their phone to withdraw from others, isolate themselves or compare their lives to the carefully curated and often unrealistic images they see on social media.

2. What is the content?

Next, assess what the teen is doing on their smartphone. Not all screen time is created equal. Are they creating art, learning something new, completing schoolwork, listening to music or connecting with friends? Or are they spending hours passively scrolling, consuming upsetting content, comparing themselves to others or getting caught in an endless cycle of short-form videos?

3. When is the teen using the phone?

Sleep may be the clearest pathway through which phone use can affect mental health. Notifications, late-night conversations, scrolling and simply having a phone nearby can delay bedtime or make it harder to disengage. Insufficient sleep can then affect mood, anxiety, irritability, attention, impulse control and academic functioning². Encourage teens to unplug from their phones about an hour before bed, keep devices out of the bedroom overnight, and create a predictable wind-down routine.

4. What is the phone use replacing?

A phone becomes more concerning when it begins replacing the things that support healthy development, such as personal connection, sleep, and getting outside. Problematic or addictive patterns of phone use are real, and repeated difficulty cutting back, significant distress when the phone is unavailable, declining school performance, disrupted sleep, withdrawal from valued activities or lying about phone use alongside behavioral or emotional changes may be signs that something more is going on.

Looking at these questions can help paint a better picture of how a teen’s digital life is affecting their well-being. In today’s world, raising a completely screen-free teenager isn’t realistic. Instead, the goal is to help teens develop the skills to use technology in a healthy, intentional way, without allowing it to take over their sleep, mood, attention or relationships.

To help them do that, instead of focusing only on how many hours a teen is on their cell phone, ask what they are doing, how it makes them feel and what it may be replacing. Ask how they use their phone in everyday situations, too. Can they put it away at the dinner table, during family time or in the doctor’s office waiting room, or does that make them antsy?

Create shared family expectations, including expectations for adults. For instance, charge phones outside bedrooms overnight, build in phone-free meals and activities, turn off unnecessary notifications, and adjust supervision as a teen demonstrates greater readiness and responsibility.

Most importantly, model the behavior you want to see. Teens learn not only from the limits we set, but from how we use our own devices.

Sources

1. Faverio, M., & Sidoti, O. (2024, December 12). Teens, social media and technology 2024. Pew Research Center.
   https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/
2. Fatima, G., Shukla, V., Magomedova, A., & Magomedov, R. (2026). Mobile phone addiction and sleep quality among children and adolescents: Unraveling the health consequences. Cureus, 18(1), e102460. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.102460