Parenting Children in the Age of Screens

Used in 2 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

1. [1] Child smartphone timing Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   73% of US parents believe it is acceptable for a child to have their own smartphone only after age 12; just 22% think it is OK for a child under age 12 to have one

   “"A majority of parents (73%) believe it is acceptable for children to have their own phone only after they have reached at least the age of 12. Some 45% say smartphone ownership is acceptable between the ages of 12 and 14, and 28% say it is acceptable between the ages of 15 and 17. Just 22% think it is OK for a child under the age of 12 to have one."”

   Calculation notes

   Pew Research Center, March 2020. N=3,640 US parents with children under 12. The 73% figure is a prospective attitude about appropriate timing — not a retrospective regret question — but provides strong indirect evidence that regret about waiting is very rare: parents who hold the dominant view that under-12 smartphone ownership is inappropriate are unlikely to subsequently regret having acted on that view. Used as indirect supporting evidence for the low inaction- side proxy rate rather than as a direct regret measure.
   

   Source date: 2020-07-28 · Accessed: 2026-05-13

2. [2] Sharenting vs. child digital privacy Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   Among parents whose under-12 child uses a voice-activated assistant, about 39% are at least somewhat concerned about the data the assistant collects about their child (11% very concerned)

   “"About four-in-ten parents of a child age 11 or younger who uses or interacts with a voice-activated assistant (39%) say they are at least somewhat concerned about the data these assistants collect about their child, including 11% who say they are very concerned."”

   Calculation notes

   Pew Research Center, "Parenting Children in the Age of Screens" (American Trends Panel Wave 63, fielded March 2-15, 2020). This source documents that parental concern about child data collection is real but partial (39% concerned about voice-assistant data among the relevant subgroup) -- it establishes the motivation behind privacy protection. It does NOT measure regret among privacy-protective parents. No published survey asks non-sharing parents whether they regret their restraint, so the inaction side carries no reliable regret estimate (see regret_display).
   

   Source date: 2020-07-28 · Accessed: 2026-06-30