# First device and first smartphone

**What age should a child get a first phone?**

When your child gets their first phone and what kind, from a smartwatch or basic phone to a full smartphone.

In short: Parents choose between 4 main approaches: Around 10 or earlier (the current norm); End of 8th grade (Wait Until 8th); High school, about 14 (Haidt); 16 or later; smartwatch or basic phone as stepping stones. Evidence: experts disagree. Credible bodies or researchers disagree — decide whose guidance you'll weigh. Best settled: tween.

- Area: Screens, phones and digital life
- Evidence: Experts disagree
- Best settled: Tween
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/screens-phones-and-digital-life--first-device-and-first-smartphone

## First device and first smartphone: what are the options?

1. **Around 10 or earlier (the current norm)**: The child gets a smartphone at about ten or younger, which is common now.
2. **End of 8th grade (Wait Until 8th)**: The child waits until after eighth grade, as the Wait Until 8th pledge asks.
3. **High school, about 14 (Haidt)**: The child waits until high school, about fourteen, as Jonathan Haidt recommends.
4. **16 or later; smartwatch or basic phone as stepping stones**: The child waits until sixteen or older, with a watch or a calls-and-texts phone before then.

## First device and first smartphone: what does the evidence say?

**Experts disagree.** Credible bodies or researchers disagree — decide whose guidance you'll weigh.

About 6 in 10 US 11-12-year-olds have a smartphone; Oster rates the data quality as very poor but leans negative for teen girls

Sources:

- [Pew](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/10/08/how-parents-manage-screen-time-for-kids/)
- [Persuasion](https://www.persuasion.community/p/emily-oster-on-whats-gone-wrong-with)

## What else is worth knowing?

A smartphone gives a child the whole internet and social apps in their pocket. Groups such as Wait Until 8th encourage families to delay together. Watches and basic phones allow calls and texts without the rest.

## Questions to ask each other

- At what age and for what reason would our child get a phone?
- Would we start with a basic phone or a watch?
- What rules would come with it?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=screens-phones-and-digital-life&topic=screens-phones-and-digital-life--first-device-and-first-smartphone