WASHINGTON (December 3, 2025) – A new University of Pennsylvania led study finds that preteens who own smartphones are significantly more likely to experience poorer mental health than their peers. More concerning is that nearly half of preteens in the U.S. now have a smartphone by age 11.
For an expert who can speak to the broader forces driving this trend, please consider Vikram Bhargava, assistant professor of strategic management and public policy at the George Washington University School of Business.
Bhargava has studied the ethics of technology and excessive internet use. He argues that social media addiction should be treated as a serious moral and policy issue. His research points to the fact that social media companies are incentivized to perpetrate this harmful “attention-economy” business model.
If you would like to schedule an interview with Bhargava, please contact Claire Sabin at claire [dot] sabin
gwu [dot] edu (claire[dot]sabin[at]gwu[dot]edu).
-GW-