For teenagers and middle school-aged students, cellphones can be a key tool for parents to stay connected to their children. Yet, cellphones do not come without drawbacks.

With cellphone use becoming extremely prevalent for teens, it opens the door for a plethora of new challenges for parenting in the 21st century.

Allegheny Health Network child and adolescent psychiatrist Gary Swanson recommends moderation for all those with phones, suggesting that parents aim to vary their children’s schedule throughout the day.

“You want the screen time or the time on the phone to connect with people. You want it to help with creativity. You want it to help you with what it is you’re doing in life,” Swanson said. “Kids do need to do other things, sports, music, art, hobbies.”

Teenagers with more than four hours of daily screen time were more likely to report symptoms of anxiety or depression in the past two weeks than those with less than four hours of screen time, a 2024 study done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Apps on smartphones are designed to be addictive. Reducing screen time and closing apps can require a lot of self-discipline for anyone, no matter the person’s age, Swanson said.

“All of us have to figure out how to limit our screen time,” Swanson said. “The grown-ups haven’t mastered it, the kids haven’t mastered it. And these things have been there … since the iPhone came out.”

“When we play on a phone, that is having an effect on our brain twofold,” said Swanson. “One is whatever I’m doing on the phone is affecting my brain.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most teens typically spend more than four hours daily on screens.

The other issue for cellphone use among tweens and teens, Swanson said, is that they are losing time spent moving, conversing with a friend or practicing a hobby.

“I don’t need people to exercise eight hours a day,” he said. “But if you are exercising an hour a day and on the phone for an hour or two a day and spending time with friends for an hour or two a day and doing some work around the house an hour or two a day.

“Pretty soon that adds up. Your day is pretty full.”

The advent of smartphones also opened the door to 24/7 global access to the internet.

Parents should be able to monitor who their children are communicating with online and how as well as what they are being exposed to online, Swanson said.

While older adults are assumed to fall victim to scams and phishing attempts most often, children, teens and young adults are still susceptible to these bad actors, he warned.

The reason that phishing scams or fraud schemes keep happening is because they keep working, said Bradford Arick, Pittsburgh FBI field office public affairs officer.

There are scams and criminals worldwide looking for victims to hook in any way that they can, no matter the age, he said.

Some young adults or teenagers might not understand that someone who might look like an attractive woman online, might actually be someone sitting in a call center in Southeast Asia. Others might not understand how much data a scammer can gather from one social media search, Arick said.

To avoid scams, Arick and Swanson both encouraged parents to have honest conversations with their children about what proper digital behavior looks like.

Ryan Gloyer Middle School principal Trisha Butschle recommends having those conversations as early as possible.

“As long as kids know that they’re not being judged and that they have a safe person to talk to,” she said, “that’s really important.”

She recommended parents approach the conversation saying, “there are going to be times that you make mistakes,” she said, “but we will always, always support you, and we will help you through it, because we all make mistakes in life.”

Not all cellphone use is bad either.

For teenagers responsible for taking care of siblings or tweens old enough to stay home alone, it can function as a critical communication tool between child and parent. It can also provide teenagers from an isolated or marginalized group connection to other people like them, Swanson said.

Ensuring preparedness and digital citizenship for parents and children can often keep children safe before a major incident, scam or symptoms of anxiety or depression happen.

For parents or guardians not ready to give their children a cellphone, other technologies could work as an adequate substitute, with Swanson recommending flip phones.

Adults interested in learning more about digital skills and citizenship can check out websites like Common Sense Media to stay informed, or reach out to school resource officers for more information.