Clinical psychologist Dr. Sheryl Ziegler, author of "The Crucial Years," joins "CBS Mornings Plus" to explain the dangers of giving kids smartphones too early and share advice for parents.

A recent large-scale study has found that children who receive smartphones before the age of 13 are at greater risk of negative mental health outcomes as young adults. The research, which surveyed 100,000 individuals, linked early smartphone ownership with increased rates of depression, anxiety, poor body image, and, for boys, higher aggression and lower empathy between ages 18 and 22.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Cheryl Ziegler advises parents to carefully assess both their own and their child's readiness before introducing smartphones. She suggests starting with limited access, such as supervised use of shared devices, and emphasizes the importance of gradual steps rather than immediate full access to a personal smartphone.

Why experts warn against smartphones before age 13

OK, something they didn't have to worry about back in 1976, blessedly so, smartphones. An alarming new study highlights the psychological dangers of giving kids a smartphone too soon. Take a listen to this. Nearly 3 quarters of kids get their first phone before the age of 12. Before their first pimple, I would say. But new research shows receiving a smartphone before 13 leads to extremely negative health outcomes in young adulthood. With more on the findings and what parents can do about it, we're joined by clinical psychologist, Dr. Cheryl Ziegler, the author of the wonderful book, The Crucial Years, The Essential Guide to Mental Health and Modern Puberty in Middle Childhood. Dr. Ziegler, welcome back. Thank you very much for being here. Thanks for having me. So what's the data tell us about the impact on 6 to 12-year-olds? Well, this was a really interesting study because they looked at 100,000 respondents. So that's a big sample size. And they looked to see the age at which they got their smartphone. And then they fast forward 18 to 22. So they were 18 to 22 years old when they were responding. And so what they saw was the earlier that a kid got a smartphone, the worse their mental health outcomes were between the ages of 18 to 22. So things like increased suicidal thoughts, poor body image, higher levels of depression, more anxiety. And with boys or males, more aggression and less empathy. So when we look at that, we're now saying it's not just bad and hard in the moment, but for their long term, for the future, it impacts them. So we really need to be thinking about the choices we make around the age we give kids phones. So I know the age will differ with each kid, but how can parents know if their kid is ready for a phone? I kind of think there's sort of a readiness checklist you have to ask yourself. And it starts, the first question is, am I ready as the parent? Am I ready to monitor the phone, to do the control apps? Do I even know how to navigate half this stuff? So it starts there. Then the second piece, you really want to say to yourself, like, does my kid show these basic responsibilities? Do they make their bed? Or do their chores? Do they lose things? Do they keep track of their belongings? So that's a responsibility piece. And then I think you really want to say, am I ready to sit down with my kid and say, we're going to go through safety? You're going to let you do you listen, right? Don't give out your name. Don't give out your phone number. Do they do the basic things in terms of, do they listen to you? So those are three ways to just start, should I even consider this conversation. If you haven't given your kid a smartphone and they're asking you and they're asking you again, how do you respond in a way that they're going to listen to? Well, what I would say is, the first question is like, what do you want it for? So tell me about that. I want it because all my friends have a phone and it's so cool. And mom, please. I know. So all your friends have these phones. And so we're going to role play this right now. And do you feel like you're missing out? Is there something? Of course I'm missing out. I'm always missing out, mom. Yeah, you're always missing out. So I wonder when we can ask your friends to come over to play to our house or maybe at night on the iPad, maybe I'll give you, you know, maybe a half an hour on our family or shared iPad to get in on the group chat. Maybe we start small before we go to giving you a phone. What do you think about that? I want a phone. An iPad's not enough. I want to be able to text like all my other friends and iPad is not cool, mom. I know. It's kind of like riding a bike. So remember how we started off with training wheels? Because like, if I just put you on a bike, you would have been tumbling over to the side. I think we got to start small. So you can either borrow my phone and join that group chat on there because I'm going to be looking through these things or you can use the iPad to start. And if you do well with that, we can talk about adding more things. So I think that's got to be the message. It's not all or nothing. You have no smartphone. Now I'm handing you the world and ending your childhood at the same time. So let's start with baby steps. And that's really what I would say. That's well done. I think it's fair. Yeah, I think it's fair. And I think it's like, it's the right way to do it. Yeah, and if they're upset, they're upset. You got to just, I mean, that's parenthood, right? Talking to myself here. All right, Dr. Cheryl Ziegler, thank you so much. You're welcome.

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