How young is too young to have a smartphone? 5 of the biggest parenting questions about smartphones, answered. Boston 25 News [Video]

Smartphones are an everyday part of our culture, but research on the effects of screen time might give parents pause when it comes to giving their children one of their own. Even so, smartphones allow parents to reach their children in an emergency, students to access educational materials at the stroke of a finger, and kids to find community, especially when peers of certain identity groups may be hard to find locally.

Of course, with each benefit comes a new digital risk. Parents must manage to keep their children safe while they’re online. Monitoring their child’s content consumption is also important to ensure their phones don’t interrupt their sleep, which can induce added stress, or impact their socialization—not to mention potential impacts on their childhood and imagination.

Spokeo reviewed academic research from Stanford Universityand other institutions and survey data to help answer some of the most pressing questions facing parents considering when to give their children …