Smartphone addiction among children and adolescents has been a pearl-clutching cause du jour for parents and educators for some time (and with good reason). But rising smartphone use, and addiction, exist in the daily habits of people over the age of 65. And, it is practically invisible.

Today’s 60-somethings weren’t raised with smartphones, but many were the earliest adopters in midlife, in 2007, when the iPhone launched at Macworld. By the end of 2009, the iPhone had gone global. Adoption, use, and upgrades have continued apace ever since. Now that many people over age 65 are retiring, they have extra time on their hands, and more phones in their pockets, than ever before. 

The Economist reports that while smartphone use in the 60+ age bracket is typically half the time spent by people aged 18-25, the older cohort more than makes up for it with other screen time on other devices. In fact, the “Over-65s are more likely than under-25s to own tablets, smart TVs, e-readers, and desktop and laptop computers, according to a seven-country survey by GWI, a research firm.”

Smartphone addiction shows up differently than in children and adolescents. Older adults tend to turn to phones after cognitive declines or being isolated from family and friends, reports NPR. A smartphone addiction carries different, additional risks for older people, too. Trusting misinformation and falling victim to a scam — both of which can happen at any age — are worsened by cognitive declines in older people.   

And yet… Who looks twice at someone over 65 using their smartphone? Even if they use it a lot? Not me. I’m looking at my phone.

Many activities are made easier or more efficient with a phone. Other activities, like games, are used to “fill time” or perhaps justified as “brain-building” exercises. But just like every other age cohort, the device offers a specific appeal. That appeal is the diverse range of activities and rewards, each offering displacement from stress. Enter the potential for addiction.

The book The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains discusses how behaviors are intentionally manipulated by companies to trigger revenue-driving rewards: 

This is why virtually any stimulus that generates reward, when taken to the extreme, can also lead to addiction. You can get addicted to a drug, but you just as easily can get addicted to a behavior, such as gambling or internet use.

Smartphones offer gambling and the internet! And shopping! And games! And distraction from boredom and social discomfort! The phone itself might not have been designed to be addictive, but you can bet the apps on your phone made that a priority. (See also The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, a book so well-researched and extensive that my phone-addled, ADHD brain couldn’t finish it, as if to prove the point.)

Which brings us back to older people and phones, and the next generation of old people, and the generation after that, each using that phone from earlier and earlier ages. The phone isn’t going anywhere. Nor is one of the core benefits it offers: a displacement activity device you can carry with you just as easily as a pack of cigarettes or a flask.

So just as with any potentially addictive substance or activity, we have to make a cost-benefit analysis and be intentional about setting our parameters for engagement. No one is immune from forming an unhealthy relationship with a phone. Not even the oldest and wisest among us.

Written by Katie McCaskey. First published September 8, 2026.

Sources:

“History of the iPhone,” Wikipedia, accessed August 22, 2026.

“Meet the real screen addicts: the elderly,” The Economist, October 23, 2025.

“Screen time is increasing for people over 60. Is that a problem?” NPR, February 25, 2026.

“Understanding older adults’ smartphone addiction in the digital age: empirical evidence from China,” NIH National Library of Medicine, 2023.

“The Hacking of the American Mind, The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains,” Penguin Random House, 2018.

“The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” Profile Books, 2018.

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