Smartphone use can actually help teenagers boost their mood

A survey of 253 US teens has found that, on average, their mood lifted after using their smartphones

By Chris Stokel-Walker

29 May 2024

How do smartphones make teens feel?

Shutterstock/DavideAngelini

A small study of children aged 12 to 17 suggests that using a smartphone slightly improves their mood, adding to the debate on whether teenagers should have access to the devices.

Experts are split on the matter: some researchers, including Jonathan Haidt at New York University, claim that smartphones may be contributing to a mental health crisis, while others like Pete Etchells at Bath Spa University, UK, argue that there is a lack of evidence to prove such a link.

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Now, Matt Minich and Megan Moreno at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have gone further, showing a positive association with smartphones. They enlisted 253 children in the US to take part in a six-day study, sending them 30 short surveys via text at random times between 9am and 9pm.

The surveys asked people if they were on their phone at the time they received the text message, as well as to rate their mood on a 7-point scale at that present moment and before they picked up their phone.

On average, people said their mood had lifted from just below 5 on the 7-point scale to just below 5.5 when using their phone, suggesting they were using the device as a mood management tool. “Adolescents reported higher moods when they were using their phones,” says Minich. “And they reported that their moods had improved during the time that they were using their phones.”