Nearly 40% of kids under 2 years old interact with smartphones, according to their parents
A new Pew Research study outlines just how pervasive technology use among US children has become.
As parents in 2025 know, they really do grow up so fast. First words today, first Google query tomorrow. Then, before you know it, they’re asking ChatGPT to read them a bedtime story...
On Wednesday, Pew Research Center published a survey assessing how parents in the US with children under 12 manage their kids’ screen time, which revealed that 61% of respondents overall reported their child ever uses or interacts with smartphones — including 38% of those with children under 2 years old.
Much of this smartphone screen time is likely made up by parents streaming kid-friendly cartoons for their little ones to watch on the go: the study also found that YouTube use among children under 2 has risen sharply from 45% to 62% over the last five years. But it appears that most American toddlers only need to wait a few years before they can get devices of their very own.
The same survey showed that almost one in four US parents overall allow their children aged 12 and under to have their own smartphones, and this ballooned to nearly 60% when just looking at kids aged 11-12 years old.
Indeed, even with statewide smartphone bans spurring an old-school iPod revival, most parents — the vast majority of whom (92%) reported being concerned about staying in contact with their children — are allowing their descendants who’ve barely hit double digits to have devices to use in their free time.
Pre-teens, post-screens
While traditional cable viewership continues to sink, TV remains the screen of choice for kids’ entertainment, permitted by 90% of parents surveyed. However, moms and dads may now be faced with a whole new hotbed of childcare worries: the study also found that some 8% of kids aged 5-12 have interacted with AI chatbots.
As an overwhelming majority of parents (80%) still harbor concerns over the harms of social media, the negative consequences of this relatively novel, extremely powerful tech for a whole cohort of young people may become even more stark in years to come — through screens or otherwise.
