Oh, The Places You’ll Go…With Your Smartphone

By: Melissa DeCesare, Vice President Edison Research and The Research Moms

I got my first cell phone in my very early twenties. It was clunky, had a numeric keypad and an antenna with somewhat unreliable service. I barely used it. My parents thought it was high-tech and a good idea, ‘for emergencies.’ They could not have imagined how cell phones would evolve to smartphones and become indispensable, especially for moms.

By 2012, the majority of us moms (61%) were catching on to this mobile device, and seeing a whole new lifestyle that included shopping on the go, engaging with social media and consuming audio and video content wherever we were. A decade later, according to the 2022 edition of Moms and Media from Edison Research, Wondery and ART19, 98% of moms now own a smartphone and 86% of moms report accessing the internet from their cell phone. We can look up anything, connect with anyone, and it is all available, literally, in the palm of our hand.

With practically every mom having a smartphone, there is no doubt that children are exposed at even younger ages now. In a recent online study fielded by Edison Research, moms reported 11 years old to be the average appropriate age for a child to get their first cell phone. A third of moms (34%) said age 10 and younger was appropriate while 28% said 11 or 12 years old was about right. With the smartphone being a gateway to the internet, it comes with responsibility. Nearly 4 in 10 moms seem to acknowledge that, preferring an age between 13 and 17 years old for a first cell phone.

My oldest, who received her first phone when she was eleven, just graduated and will be heading off to college for the first time. “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” by Dr. Seuss echoes in my head as this realization sets in. Her next chapter is about to begin and she’s ready for the challenge with her smartphone firmly in hand. She values it for all the content and social media she can interact with, but to me it is the connection to bridge the distance to my child.

Smartphones are clearly not just for emergencies, but the motivation to give them to our children is not too far off from what my parents thought all those years ago. It comes down to communication on the most basic level. Smartphones give our children an outlet to reach us at any time, whether just to check in or in times of crisis. This is reassurance that parents are not willing to trade, even if it means navigating through the other challenges that come with smartphone ownership among children. Children don’t know a world without smartphones and digital technology and they are a savvy bunch. As the age of exposure gets younger and younger, so too will the age that parents grant that first phone.