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Lentis/Children and Cell Phones

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Introduction

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Martin Cooper

Cell phones may have started out as a gadget for adults, but they have now become a necessary item for the entire family. In 2004, 45% of children younger than 18 years old owned a phone; but by 2010, that percentage rose to 75%[1]. Today, children as young as seven years old are more likely to own a cell phone than a book[2]. This dramatic increase in cell phone use by children raises a whole new set of concerns.

History

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On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper, a manager for Motorola, made the first cellular phone call from the streets of NYC to his rivals at Bell Labs. The phone he used was a prototype of the Motorola DynaTAC, which was 9 inches tall, weighed 2 1/2 lbs, contained 30 circuit boards, had 35 minutes of talk time, and required 10 hours to fully recharge[3].

In the thirty-eight years since that first call, there has been a dramatic evolution of the cell phone. Since the first commercial release of cell phones in the early 80s[4], phones have become smaller, more affordable, and more capable. While cell phones and their growing capabilities have many benefits, their use also carries some risk.

Social Connection vs. Social Isolation

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Social Connection

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Each new cell phone model is released with an intended use in mind. These purposes include basic communication (texting or calling), pictures or videos, calendar applications, and Internet connection. The most recent cell phone application is the iPhone 4 Siri in which a user cannot only communicate with others, but can also communicate with his or her phone by talking directly to it.

Because most adults did not grow up using cell phones, they use this technology as a means for communication. But when cell phones are put into the hands of children, the use can quickly extend beyond those originally intended.

Adolescent Theories

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E. Elkind proposed adolescent egocentrism, a psychological theory about the social interactions of adolescents.[5] During this developmental stage, adolescents are known to be self-conscious and have extremely low self esteem, and therefore, have a need to feel included, accepted by peers, and connected. The feeling of belonging that many teenagers strive for has been found in the security of a cell phone. Cell phones give children the ability to bond with others, form a private social life, overcome feelings of awkwardness by communicating indirectly, and therefore, it provides a symbol of acceptance that most teenagers struggle to find.[6] While walking down a sidewalk full of strangers, a cell phone is often seen as a social lifeline to many teenagers in today’s socially isolated society.[7]

Warped Perception of Aging

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Social media addiction has significantly influenced children who have grown up with constant access to cell phones and is suspected to be creating a warped perception of aging. Social media platforms often expose young users to trends and behaviors, especially beauty and fashion-related, that are intended for older teenagers and adults[1]. This creates an environment where children feel pressured to mature prematurely[2]. This absorption in age-inappropriate content accelerates the process of "growing up too fast," leaving children vulnerable to unrealistic expectations and challenges beyond their developmental stage.

Social Isolation

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Although cell phones have fulfilled the need for children to be connected, overuse of this technology can result in social alienation. Because children have the ability to be in constant contact with people from different cities, states, and even countries, they can involuntarily alienate themselves from their current, social surroundings.

It is an oversimplification to say that this phenomenon is solely a result of children owning cell phones. Children and adolescents develop their understanding of interactions and social norms by mimicking the people around them, a process called socialization[3]. In early childhood, children rely on their parents for socialization. However, parents' cell phone use can interrupt these key interactions[4]. In a phenomenon termed "technoference", parent-child relationships are strained by one or both participants paying more attention to their phones than to the other person[5]. In short, children can be victims of social isolation as a result of cell phones that are not even their own. This is a compelling example of the relationship between technology and uninformed or non-consenting third parties, a topic which deserves to be built upon in future works.

Social Isolation Caused By Cell Phone Usage

Social Development Alterations

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The overuse of cell phones by children can stunt their social development by not allowing for the development of skills such as the ability to:

  • Summarize: Because texting allows children time to think before they respond, the ability to express opinions in a clear and concise manner is harmed.[7]
  • Read social cues: Cell phone dependent children often isolate themselves in social situations and therefore never develop the ability to read social cues, which is detrimental to future educational or professional environments.
  • Be aware of social surroundings: For example, children crossing a street while using a cell phone are less likely to look both ways, and are therefore 43% more likely to be struck by a passing car.[8]

Cell Phone Dependency

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The availability of cell phones to children creates a cause for a childhood addiction. Cell phone dependency is characterized by extreme extraversion, neuroticism, and low self-esteem.[5] Today, an extraverted personality is a positive attribute, but when it is extreme, a person has an obsessive need to be with or in communication with a person at all times. Teenagers already have a stereotypically low self-esteem, so those that are dependent on a cell phone for communication will have greater difficulty overcoming this barrier. [7]

It is unclear whether childhood cell phone use causes lasting psychological impacts. Cell phones have become markedly more addictive since the mid 2000s, which has been attributed to the rise of the smartphone[6]. A smartphone is broadly defined as a cellular device merging the communication features of a traditional cell phone with the broader applications of a computer[7]. By this definition the first smartphone was the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, released to consumers in 1994[7]. However, the release of the Apple iPhone in 2007 was what truly revolutionized smartphones. The introduction of cameras and the app store[7] opened a new frontier for cell phones: they could play the role of any other piece of handheld technology all at once. Given that children born after the advent of the iPhone are just now reaching adulthood it is still unknown how profoundly their development has been affected by smartphones, if it all.

Some researchers contend that cell phones cause no lasting impact on developing minds. A 2018 study found that while adolescents who are cell phone reliant tend to have shorter attention spans, these effects tend to be short-term[8]. Therefore, it is possible that fears of permanently shortened attention spans as a result of cell phone use are no different than historical claims that early television exposure permanently altered brain function. On the contrary, a 2017 study found that cell phone users are more likely to stay up late, resulting in reduced sleep time and lower sleep quality[9]. The Centers for Disease Control highlights that reduced sleep quality in childhood and adolescence can result in a variety of physical and mental health problems including increased susceptibility to obesity, type II diabetes, and attention and behavior problems[10]. While Type II diabetes is treatable, it is a life-long chronic illness with no cure. Furthermore while attention and behavior problems may not last into adulthood, they may have impacts on children's performance in school[10]. In short, while all cell phone users are prone to cell phone dependence, it is unclear whether that dependence is particularly harmful to children. The distinguishing factor between childhood and adulthood cell phone dependence is the fact that children today are fully immersed in a culture of smartphones, whereas adults born before 2007 remember a world when smartphones were not so pervasive.

Educational Impacts

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Cell phones and technology have transformed education by providing students with unprecedented access to tools like Khan Academy, online tutors, and other digital resources that support learning. While these advancements have been beneficial, they also contribute to challenges within traditional educational settings. The integration of technology in classrooms has coincided with slower developmental progress in some schools, as reliance on screens reduces direct interaction between students and teachers[11]. This shift is particularly problematic for students who require extra support, as screens lack the ability to adapt to individual learning styles or offer the emotional encouragement that teachers provide.

Moreover, the increasing prevalence of cell phones in students' lives has been linked to a decline in literacy rates. PISA student scores declined between 2012 and 2020, and overall student achievement went down between 2019 and 2022 in almost every country in the study[12]. Further research suggests that the heavy reliance on various digital media has led to shortened attention spans, hindering reading comprehension and overall literacy skills[13].

This decline has long-term risks for students' academic and professional futures. These trends highlight the need for a balanced approach to technology use in education.

Cell Phone Bans In Schools

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Many districts across the United States have pushed back against cell phone use in K-12 classrooms [14]. Frustrated educators cite reduction in student attention spans, distribution of inappropriate videos filmed on school grounds, and decreased social interaction as reasons for their support of a cell phone ban during school hours[14]. Beginning in the 2024-2025 academic year, Fairfax County Public Schools in northern Virginia, USA introduced a pilot program to reduce middle schoolers' use of cell phones during the school day[15]. Enforced "bell to bell" [15] in each day, this policy requires students to place their phones in a Yondr pouch before the instructional time begins each morning. The pouch then locks and can only be opened at designated Yondr pouch opening stations at the end of the school day[15]. However, opposition to this initiative has been strong. For example, parents in a Long Island, New York, USA school district argue that a Yondr pouch program is far too expensive and limits parents' ability to contact their children in case of emergency[16]. One specific parent and educator, Robert Lowe, spoke to a school board in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA, arguing that removal of cell phones in schools are supported only by the manufacturers as an easy fix to a more complicated underlying problem[17]. He runs a website titled Down with Yondr, which actively encourages students to resist and circumvent Yondr initiatives in their school districts because cell phone bans represent the denial of reality: cell phones are here to stay[18]. This website also includes links to a discord server to assist students in organizing to resist Yondr pouches and similar cell phone bans.

Parents' Control v.s. Children's Independence

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Cell phones produce the conflicting results of giving parents more control and giving children more independence. While the appeal of cell phones includes child safety, cell phones can often be dangerous to own.

Cell Phones Enable Parental Control

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Cell Phone GPS Tracking Capability

Parents may feel that their child is safer carrying a phone. Cell phones give parents peace of mind since it provides instant connectivity. Parents can contact their children to determine their whereabouts and activities. Especially for children far away from home or with divorced parents, the cell phone allows parents to stay involved in their child's life.

A phone can be used to teach children responsibility. They will learn to care for their phone, avoid losing it, and stay within their plan limits. At a young age they will learn about budgets and social etiquette.

Parents often use cell phones as a means to discipline their children. Sixty-two percent of parents take phones away as punishment, and 52% of parents limit the time of day their children may use their phone [9]. Parents can also give their children boundaries such as to call them whenever they change locations. The rules parents establish regarding cell phones may improve a child's behavior.

In a 2009 survey, 64% of parents look at the contents of their child’s phone, and 48% of parents use phones to monitor their child's location [9]. There are many pieces of software available that parents can buy to monitor their child’s cell phone activity such as iWonder Surf and Webwatcher Mobile. To activate and view activity, a parent has to secretly install the software on their child’s phone and log onto their online account. They can view GPS location, text messages, and call information. Parents can even disable web access during school hours.

The widespread use of cell phones is affecting the parent-child relationship. This can be detrimental to children's independence and emotional development. In general, parents are spending less quality time engaging in offline activities with their kids, like reading or playing games. Instead, they rely on devices to occupy their children. This trend has given rise to the phenomenon of "iPad kids," where both children and parents increasingly depend on screens as a form of distraction or almost another parent-figure[19]. As a result, children may miss opportunities to develop essential life skills, as well as the deep emotional connections that come from shared family experiences. This can also potentially affect a child’s ability to form secure attachments with others. Furthermore, the responsibility of managing screen time makes it more challenging for parents to strike a balance between technology use and creating a nurturing environment that promotes children's independence and emotional resilience.

Cell Phones Enable Children's Independence

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Frequently cell phones have the opposite result of giving children more freedom, which can expose them to serious risks. With instant connectivity possible, children today are more likely to be able to leave home. The cell phone also enables children to lie about where they are and what they are doing.

By having more independence, children may be more vulnerable to certain dangers such as sexting. Sexting is the sending of sexually explicit messages or photographs between phones. Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus are examples of young celebrity role models who had nude text messages leaked to the public. Sexting is becoming increasing popular among middle school and high school students. The coming of age mistakes and immaturity are becoming even more visible with cell phone technology. Over 15% of 12-17 year olds claim they have received nude photos from text messages [10]. These actions can lead to serious consequences such as embarrassment, misdemeanors, felonies, and even child pornography charges.

Cells allow a new way for children to be bullied. Over 1 in 5 teens have been cyber-bullied[11]. Cyber-bullying can lead to low self-esteem, depression, suicide, violence and school failure.

Cell phone usage has strong impacts on cyberbullying and mental health in children. Spending too much time on screens can prevent children from taking mental breaks, reflecting, and engaging fully with their surroundings, while also reducing opportunities for face-to-face social connections.  A 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center found that almost half of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 (roughly 46%) have experienced cyberbullying [20]. In young people, phone addiction is strongly linked to depression in young people [21]. The ABCD study links increased screen time in children to impaired social skills, mental health issues, behavioral challenges, and sleep disturbances [22].

Social media platforms such as Meta have AI and 24/7 monitoring teams to proactively detect and remove bullying posts. TikTok and X also have in-app reporting tools [23]. Pro-forma safety rules are being integrated into social media platforms and monitoring services, establishing automatic standards like age verification and content filtering to enhance child safety online. These rules aim to create a baseline level of protection while offering parents more control over their children's digital interactions. However, some measures by social media platforms can be seen as more about compliance rather than a genuine concern for user safety. The Parents for Safe Online Spaces is an organization of families who lost their children due to social media-related incidents. The parents advocated for the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which aims to protect children online on social media platforms [23]. Companies such as Bark.us and Kaspersky Safe Kids offer parental monitoring programs, which help children remain safe in a digital world [24]. Medical and mental health organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which highlight the links between cyberbullying, screen time, and mental health issues in youth.

Cell phones also open up children to communication with predators. Predators not only target children through texting, but also through webcams, the internet, and social networking sites available on many phones. Over 1 in 7 children have been propositioned online for sex from a predator [12].

Helpful in Emergency vs. Health Emergency

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Helpful in Emergency

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Cell phones are extremely convenient in emergencies. In most situations in which emergency help is needed, people can now pull out their cell phones to dial 911 or access information quickly. In large-scale emergencies, parents can contact their children to assure they are safe, and schools can send alerts to the entire student body[13]. This is an overwhelmingly positive benefit to the widespread use of mobile phones. In these cases, it could be argued that cell phones save lives. However, some would say the negative health side effects outweigh the benefits of being able to make an emergency call.

Health Emergency

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MRI of child with brainstem tumor.

Cell phones are known to generate electromagnetic fields (EMFs). This is how they communicate with cell towers and why we can communicate almost everywhere. The problem is that phones emit these electromagnetic waves in all directions, including into our bodies. A 1996 study explored the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), the rate of energy absorption, in models of a human adult brain, a 10 year old brain, and a 5 year old brain during cell phone use. Their study showed notably higher SAR's in a 10 year old than an adult, and even higher SAR's in a 5 year old. These results prove that EMFs penetrate deeper into children’s brains than adults’ brains[14] and contribute to the idea that cell phones may be more harmful to children than to adults. This increased susceptibility to EMF penetration is attributed to the fact that children have smaller brains and softer brain tissue than adults.[15]

In response to the fears that cell phones are causing brain cancer, many researchers have tried to determine whether cell phones (or the electromagnetic radiation they emit) are actually causing brain cancer. In the first study focusing specifically on children[16], Aydin et al. looked specifically at children with brain cancer. The group looked at 352 children (7-19 years old) from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland that had been diagnosed with a brain tumor between 2004 and 2008. Their cell phone usage times were estimated based on interviews and examination of their phone records. Despite fears, they found no evidence tying regular cell phone use to a higher risk of cancer in children[17].

These conclusions regarding cell phones and brain cancer need to be qualified. Due to the recent increased use of cell phones, especially among children[18], it is not yet possible to evaluate their long term impact on health. Unfortunately, experts estimate that symptoms may not appear until 15 to 35 years after initial use[19]; therefore, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove causation at this time[20].

Early fears about brain cancer arose because older, bulkier mobile phones were held directly against the head for long periods during voice calls. This raised concerns that the non-ionizing radiation emitted by these phones could potentially harm the brain and increase cancer risk. As technology evolved, voice calls have sharply declined, replaced by options such as texting and hand-free options. A comprehensive analysis of 63 studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) found no evidence linking cell phone use to an increased risk of brain cancer [25]. The studies have found that phone radiation does not increase cancer risks, or brain cancer, due to its low-level and non-ionizing nature [25]. Harvard's Dr. Timothy Rebbeck emphasizes that non-ionizing radiation is fundamentally different from harmful ionizing radiation, such as X-rays [25].

Society's Reaction

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Some groups, such as the International Parenting Association, take this qualification to the extreme and insist that cell phones will harm children and should never be used[21]. Others would site more definitive research supporting the contrary, such as a paper from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that states: “there is no known biologically plausible mechanism by which non-ionizing radio waves of low energy can disrupt DNA and lead to cancer” [16].

We can't currently prove causation, but we also can't prove non-effect. With no definitive support for either side and the possibility of years before such support arrives, we must ask ourselves and important question: Should we deprive ourselves (and our children) from the benefits of cell phones because of potential risks to our health?

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Defined broadly, informed consent is acceptance of terms with full knowledge of potential risks and benefits. It can be argued that children, in their limited life experience, cannot fully consent to cell phone use. Despite children today being "digital natives," they are not born understanding the potential hazards of unfiltered internet access[26]. As a result, parental supervision is often suggested for young internet users. This allows new users to learn in a safe environment, with a more experienced user who is more aware of the internet's dangers nearby. However, cell phones complicate things. Gone are the days of the family computer in the living room. It is now much more difficult to monitor a young internet user due to the portability of cell phones- and the ability to use them behind closed doors.

Child Social Media Influencers

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A particularly interesting study in the intersection between children and cell phones is the case of the child influencer. In the above section, it is established that children cannot necessarily give informed consent to interaction with the internet. However, almost all discussion of children and cell phones in this chapter focus on recreational use. For some children, their phone is their job.

Dubbed "kidfluencers," some children have active social media followings[27]. What started as a hobby can spiral into a million dollar enterprise involving advertisements, brand deals and sponsorships[27]. It is unlikely that a child truly understands the potential pitfalls of childhood stardom: a loss of anonymity, a childhood played out for all to see, and a permanent digital footprint. What is more alarming is that given these potential pitfalls, the child may not actually see a shred of the benefits.

As of December 2024, only three US states have legislation to protect child influencers[28]. In the remaining 47 states, child influencers remain completely unregulated[28]. This is not unlike the early 20th century, when American child laborers in general faced zero labor protections. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed to broadly ensure that children in the workplace would not face harm to their futures as a result of employment[29]. Importantly, child performers are exempt from the FLSA and are completely reliant on state law for labor protections[30].

In 1939, the Coogan Act was passed in California to establish protections for child actors[30]. It now states that any income earned by the child performer is their legal property, and that at least 15% of a child's gross income must be placed in a trust fund in their name[30]. While other US states have since passed legislation similar to the Coogan Act, 17 states still have no formal legislation for child performers[30]. Fewer still have legislation to protect child influencers.

The lack of legislation is especially concerning because of the involvement of the cell phone. Prior to cell phones and social media, child performers labored in some definition of a workplace. Be it a movie set, theater, recording studio, or dance studio, the labor was generally separated from their living arrangements. A cell phone changes everything. Now, children can be "at work" during all hours of the day. There is no way to ensure that the child has consented to this part of their lives being filmed for the world to see. This has opened a new avenue of child exploitation, wherein every waking (and non-waking) moment of a child's life can be filmed and used for profit with zero legal intervention.

For these reasons, it is essential that whistle blowers keep a watchful eye on influencers to ensure that the most vulnerable members of the population are not being taken advantage of.

The Generalizable Lesson

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Cell phones were initially created to socially connect our society, improve safety, and be helpful in health emergency situations. But with these benefits have come consequences, especially for the growing number of children with cell phones. Some consequences include cell phone dependency, vulnerability to dangerous people, and potentially harmful radiation. This case can be broadened to more generalizable lessons. As seen from the examples above, technology may be created with certain intended purposes, but those purposes can change and evolve once the technology is put into the hands of a user. Furthermore, while there may be many benefits associated with a new technology, there may also be unforeseen consequences of its widespread use.

References

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