--- title: 50% of Teens Say They're Addicted to Smartphones description: It's not just parents who think their kids are spending too much time on their phones canonical: https://time.com/4316348/teens-addicted-smartphones/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-03T15:34:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:14:05.670Z article:section: Health og:title: 50% of Teens Say They're Addicted to Smartphones og:description: "A significant minority of families seems to be truly struggling" og:url: https://time.com/4316348/teens-addicted-smartphones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444347c0f85c3e76/698891ac2dce013fc29e8e84/cellphone-addiction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4115 og:image:height: 2315 og:image:alt: Members of the audience hold up cameras and mobile telephones as American rapper and R&B singer Nicki Minaj takes to the stage stage during her 'Pink Friday' tour at HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 24, 2012 in London, United Kingdom. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 50% of Teens Say They're Addicted to Smartphones twitter:description: "A significant minority of families seems to be truly struggling" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444347c0f85c3e76/698891ac2dce013fc29e8e84/cellphone-addiction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 50% of Teens Say They're Addicted to Smartphones > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3741ceb8-4c15-4186-8382-ac4d111f24dc&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John May 3, 2016 3:34 PM UTC  Members of the audience hold up cameras and mobile telephones as American rapper and R&B singer Nicki Minaj takes to the stage stage during her 'Pink Friday' tour at HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 24, 2012 in London, United Kingdom. Members of the audience hold up cameras and mobile telephones as American rapper and R&B singer Nicki Minaj takes to the stage stage during her 'Pink Friday' tour at HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 24, 2012 in London, United Kingdom. Jim Dyson—Redferns/Getty Images by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John May 3, 2016 3:34 PM UTC A new poll has found that one in two of teens say they feel addicted to their mobile devices, while 59% of parents worry that their young ones are addicted. To discover how cell phones and mobile devices have affected child-parent relationships, [Common Sense Media conducted ](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/technology-addiction-concern-controversy-and-finding-balance-infographic)1,200 interviews with children and their parents between the ages of 12 to 18\. The nonprofit, which provides education on media and safe technology for children, found that 72% of all teens felt the urge to respond to texts and social networking messages immediately and 80% check their phones hourly. Furthermore, 85% of all parents polled said that their teens get distracted by their devices. “The poll paints a changed portrait of family life in 2016” says Common Sense Media’s [CEO James P. Steyer in the report](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/technology-addiction-concern-controversy-and-finding-balance). “A significant minority of families seems to be truly struggling to integrate mobile technology in a healthy way. And many concerning behaviors and outcomes are associated with mobile use.” However, according to Steyer, it is not all doom and gloom as this might be an evolution of normal family relationships: “The generational gap revealed in the different behaviors of teens and their parents raises the question of whether we may be too quick to label as “addiction” something that is actually a normal adaptation to rapidly and constantly evolving social norms,” Steyer said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4316348/teens-addicted-smartphones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4316348/teens-addicted-smartphones/"},"headline":"50% of Teens Say They're Addicted to Smartphones","datePublished":"2016-05-03T15:34:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:14:05.670Z","description":"\"A significant minority of families seems to be truly struggling\"","url":"https://time.com/4316348/teens-addicted-smartphones/","keywords":["Technology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444347c0f85c3e76/698891ac2dce013fc29e8e84/cellphone-addiction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt444347c0f85c3e76/698891ac2dce013fc29e8e84/cellphone-addiction.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Members of the audience hold up cameras and mobile telephones as American rapper and R&B singer Nicki Minaj takes to the stage stage during her 'Pink Friday' tour at HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 24, 2012 in London, United Kingdom.","caption":"Members of the audience hold up cameras and mobile telephones as American rapper and R&B singer Nicki Minaj takes to the stage stage during her 'Pink Friday' tour at HMV Hammersmith Apollo on June 24, 2012 in London, United Kingdom.","creditText":"Jim Dyson—Redferns/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/technology/","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4316348/teens-addicted-smartphones/","name":"50% of Teens Say They're Addicted to Smartphones"}}]}] ```