What age did you get your first phone? New study suggests owning a smartphone before the age of 12 will cause many health problems. Health problems include depression, anxiety, obesity, and poor sleep.

Scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of California at Berkeley, and Columbia University, collected data from 10,000 children across the United States. They found that around 63.6% of the kids owned a smartphone, and the average age they first got one was 11 years old. The study also found that the younger a child was when they got a smartphone, the higher risk they are at of these problems such as poor sleep, depression, and obesity. Children who owned smartphones by age 12 seemed to have worse mental health issues than those who did not.

A lead author from a study, Ran Barzilay says “We didn’t even look at what the kids did on the phone,” meaning just by simply owning a smartphone puts you at risk at such a young age, not counting what you are doing on your phone like being on social media.

Barzilay also says parents should take smartphones at a different approach and they should be used in consideration. Smartphones “can play a constructive role” says Barzilay, they can help children learn, and stay connected.

In the future Barzilay says researchers are planning on collecting data from children with a smartphone under 10 years old to figure out more about who its effecting and get down to the bottom.