Risks of Smartphone Use

Question: What are some reasons that phones can be really bad for you? 

Answer: Thank you for this question! Many adolescents use smartphones as a tool for a variety of things, including staying in contact with friends and family via phone calls, video calls or text messaging. Phones can also be used to help with navigating to a location, setting an alarm or timer, keeping a family calendar, watching entertainment, and searching for information on the internet or social media sites. Smartphones can have benefits and risks, although reporters and the media tend to give more attention to the risks of smartphone apps like social media.  

Potential Risks 

The benefits and risks of smartphone use are different for each person. For example, individual differences in traits like self-esteem and social anxiety can serve as risk or protective factors for problematic smartphone use. Other factors that impact your experiences with smartphones include whether phone use is crowding out other important activities and the types of content that you interact with.  

Crowding Out 

Smartphones can give you access to a variety of apps. Many of which, like social media platforms and video games, are designed to be hard to put down, which means it can be easy to lose track of time. One important behavior that we know smartphone use can get in the way of is sleep quality and quantity. Sleep is essential for health, so anything that gets in the way of sleep can have risks. This portal question discusses how social media use specifically might get in the way of quality sleep for adolescents, and this previous portal question discusses the extent to which smartphone use can crowd out other important behaviors like physical activity or learning.  

Negative Content 

Another way that smartphone use can lead to harmful or unhealthy experiences is through exposure to unwanted, risky, or scary content. Sometimes, you may see unwanted content online or via social media accidentally while scrolling, or you may search for something you are curious about that has unexpected or upsetting search results.  

To learn more about the research on how exposure to specific types of potentially harmful content may influence behavior, see these linked portal responses on:  

• pro-suicide content,  
• eating disorder content,  
• horror content,  
• content related to the manosphere, and  
• content related to substance use.  

What You Can Do 

Crowd Back in Healthy Activities and Behaviors 

To be sure that smartphone use does not crowd out other important activities and behaviors in your life, consider the following tips: 

• Set boundaries. Work with your family to make a Family Media Plan, which involves setting tech-free times and zones to be sure technology use doesn’t crowd out other important things like quality family time and physical activity. 
• Be intentional with your smartphone use. Consider setting a goal for how much time you’d like to spend on certain apps and what time of day you’d like to use those apps. Then, use the Glossary of Digital Media Platforms to adjust your settings within individual apps to set daily time limits and night time mode to turn off notifications when you are trying to sleep.  
• Prioritize healthy behaviors and relationships. Consider which activities you might like to crowd in, such as more time spent with friends or more time spent outside being physically active. Watch this video for tips on setting a good nighttime routine to be sure media use doesn’t crowd out sleep. 
• Explore more. Check out the Crowding Out “C” of the 5 Cs of Media Use for more tips. 

Prioritize Positive Content 

While it isn’t possible to avoid all upsetting content on social media, there are steps you can take to avoid content that is upsetting or scary and instead prioritize content that is uplifting, funny, informational, or entertaining.  

This previous portal response explains how to adjust your phone and app settings to see more of the content you want to see and less unwanted content. Other tips include: 

• Adjust your settings. Use the Glossary of Digital Media Platforms to learn how to adjust settings within apps, including content-related settings. Specific adjustments that may be helpful include filtering out specific keywords, turning on more restrictive content controls, and resetting your algorithmic feed if you see a lot of unwanted content 
• Change your algorithm and report harmful content. If there is a specific video or post that has content you are not interested in, consider using the “not interested” feature to tell your algorithm to show less of that type of content. If the post has information or content you think could be harmful, you can also use the “report” feature. The Glossary of Digital Media Platforms explains how to indicate you are not interested or report content on a variety of platforms 
• Talk to a trusted adult. If you see content that you are worried about or that upsets you, talk with a safe adult about what you saw so they can help answer questions you may have and help connect you with resources. 

Additional Resources  

Explore these additional resources to help maximize the benefits of smartphone use while minimizing negative experiences: 

• The Good and Bad of Social Media infographic and Social Media: Enjoy the Upsides and Avoid the Downsides video, which explain how to enjoy the benefits while avoiding risks of social media use. 
• Our Teen Toolkit has resources specifically designed for young people, including a Calm Toolbox that has ideas for tech and non-tech strategies to manage stress. 

References 

• de Sá, S., Baião, A., Marques, H., Marques, M. d. C., Reis, M. J., Dias, S., & Catarino, M. (2023). The Influence of Smartphones on Adolescent Sleep: A Systematic Literature Review. Nursing Reports, 13(2), 612-621.   
• Edwards, E. J., Taylor, C. S., & Vaughan, R. S. (2022). Individual differences in self-esteem and social anxiety predict problem smartphone use in adolescents. School Psychology International, 43(5), 460-476.   

Age: 10-24  

Topics: smartphones, risks 

Role: Youth