‘I don’t think my brain should have gone through that’: five young people on their experience of smartphones as teens

Sienna Seychell, 21, was given a smartphone at 11. “I would have hated a social media ban – but I would have gotten over it!” she says. Photo by Sean Davey. Photograph: Sean Davey

Debate and anxiety about teen and preteen access to smartphones and social media is raging. One paper has likened smartphones to a “parasite” on our brains, while another study suggests moderate use of social media does not have a harmful effect on young people. In the US more than 100,000 parents have joined an online pledge to delay giving children smartphones until at least the eighth grade and in Australia a ban on under-16s using social media will come into effect in December. Despite all this, OECD figures released in May show 70% of 10-year-olds and 98% of 15-year-olds have internet-connected smartphones.

So is giving teenagers smartphones that big a deal?