“I made a mistake when I gave my older children phones when they were 13.”
Nowadays, most children have access to technology like iPhones and iPads from a very early age — but it isn’t always the best choice for their mental health and development. That’s why many parents are choosing to implement strict rules when it comes to cell phone usage for their children. Whether that means delaying when their kids receive their own phone or limiting screen time when they do, these parents are making the choices that they feel are best for their families.
Find out which celebrities have strict cell phone rules for their kids…
1. Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore is the latest celebrity to speak out about how phones and social media are affecting children. She admits that when her daughter Olive turned 11, she gave her a cell phone “only to be used on weekends and for a limited time with no social media.” After monitoring her usage over the course of several months, Drew realized that her daughter had become obsessed, explaining, “Happiness was embedded in it. Life source came from this mini digital box. Moods were dependent on this device.” She quickly came to the conclusion that it was too soon for a phone.
“Within three months, I gathered the data of the texts and the behavior. I was shocked by the results,” Drew wrote on Instagram. “So missing the human I knew to be my daughter, I printed out every single text onto paper. I handed her a stack of pages and said this is not a black void that these travel to. They’re permanent somewhere where we don’t see it, so we don’t believe in its retraceable and damning nature if we fail digitally to act with decency.”
She continued, “I made sure she knew that she was a good person and that this was not punishment on her character. She is so awesome, and I so understood her desires to be part of it all…I was taking her away not because she did anything wrong, but because it was not time yet…We can live with our children’s discomfort in having to wait.”
2. Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban
While Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s daughters are now a little more grown up, back in 2019, they shared that they hadn’t yet given them phones. Nicole said she wanted to keep her children off of smartphones and social media for as long as possible — even if her policies may make her “unpopular.”
“They don’t have a phone and I don’t allow them to have an Instagram. I try to keep some kind of boundaries,” she told Vanity Fair.
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3. Chrissy Teigen & John Legend
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend’s children are still young but they limit the time that they have access to phones and iPads. Chrissy recently shared that they can only use the technology for “maybe an hour on the weekends” and that it would be her “absolute dream” for her kids to stay off social media until they graduate from high school.
“You have to keep them involved in things they love and be a master at distraction,” Chrissy told Harper’s Bazaar back in 2019. “Luna will beg to use my phone — like beg — in bed because there’s an app she loves. But there are certain situations, like when you’re on a plane or in a restaurant, where goddammit, it’s going to help those surrounding us. We are not those people that are like, ‘No screen time!’ So you try to download all the coolest learning activities so at least they’re learning something.”
4. Pink & Carey Hart
Pink and her husband Carey Hart have limited technology for their children and have not yet allowed their son and daughter to have phones. In 2022, Pink shared that her daughter was starting to get frustrated that she couldn’t have an iPhone like her friends, but the musician stayed firm in her belief.
“There’s a light side and a shadow side to technology in general for adults,” she told the Today show at the time. “For kids, I’m not there yet. I have a 10-year-old who does not have a phone, although she pointed out to me yesterday, ‘You know most of the kids in my class, fifth grade, have a phone.’ That doesn’t move my needle. I don’t care.”
5. Julia Roberts & Danny Moder
Julia Roberts and Danny Moder have allowed their three children to have cell phones but they have strict rules when they’re at home. She says that she asks that Hazel, Finn and Henry all put their phones aside once they’re spending time with family.
“For us, we just had sort of simple rules where we had a charging station, where everybody’s phone goes when you get home,” Julia shared on the Today show in 2023. “There’s no phones at the table, certainly.”
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6. Dax Shepard & Kristen Bell
In 2022, Dax Shepard shared that he and his wife Kristen Bell had decided to delay getting cell phones for their two daughters. They also banned other devices in their household including iPads and iPods. While he admits that their daughters don’t like the rules, he says he often reminds them of all the other cool things they have.
“We don’t have a phone problem ’cause they’re not in the mix. And iPods aren’t, iPads aren’t in the mix, and video games. So there’s three things in my house that are not happening — those things. And they complain about it all the time: ‘So-and-so’s got it.’ And I go, ‘Yeah, but you got a swimming pool and you got a dirt bike,’” Dax said on The Endless Honeymoon podcast.
7. Megan Fox
Megan Fox has chosen to raise her three children without iPhones or iPads. While she believes raising them this way is for the better, she knows that it’s not something that’s sustainable long term — but hopes she can delay the desire for a cell phone for as long as possible.
“My oldest is 11, and my kids weren’t raised with screens, and they don’t have iPads or anything like that or phones,” she said on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “I can’t keep that up forever. Eventually, that will happen. I’m trying to delay it as long as possible, but when they get a little bit older.”
8. Penélope Cruz & Javier Bardem
Back in 2019, Penélope Cruz recalled that she and her husband Javier Bardem decided that their two children would not have cell phones. While they’re a little bit older now, Penélope said at the time that she was doing her best to protect her children’s mental health by keeping them offline, adding that there is “no protection” for kids on social media.
“I’m very tough with technology, for example, with my kids…[No phones] until they are much older. And no social media until at least 16. I really see that that is protecting mental health, but I seem to be part of a minority,” she said on CBS Sunday Morning.
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9. Olivia Munn & John Mulaney
Olivia Munn and John Mulaney’s son Malcolm may still be a toddler, but they have started early with their rules about technology. Olivia explained that the first time Malcolm said “no” was when he was upset that they had taken a phone away from him. They decided from then on, they would only let him use their phone or iPad if it was an emergency.
“This is the first time Malcolm ever said no and even he couldn’t take himself seriously,” Olivia captioned a video on Instagram. “He wanted the phone but we made a new rule: no more phones or tablets unless it’s a code red emergency like a long travel day.”
10. Madonna
Madonna says she learned a lesson when she gave her older children cell phones. Looking back, she says her relationship with her children “ended” when she allowed them to get a cell phone so she decided going forward that she would wait as long as possible to give phones to her younger children.
“I’m going to stick that one out for as long as possible, because I made a mistake when I gave my older children phones when they were 13,” she told British Vogue. “It ended my relationship with them, really. Not completely, but it became a very, very big part of their lives. They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.”
11. Victoria & David Beckham
When Victoria and David Beckham’s children were younger, they tried to limit their time on their phones and iPads. David explained that they would much rather have their kids playing outside than staring at a screen.
“We put a time limit on it. You have to,” David told People. “No more than an hour. I know that sounds pretty harsh, but I want my boys to be outside playing…It’s so important to me that they’re involved in sports — for discipline and health.”
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12. Miranda Kerr & Evan Spiegel
Evan Spiegel may be the founder of a mobile app, but he and his wife Miranda Kerr have strict rules when it comes to screen time for their children. Each week, they’re only allowed to have an hour and a half of time on a phone or iPad. He says that parents should enact similar rules for themselves so that kids aren’t “looking at the black back of the phone . . . [with] no idea what’s going on.”
13. Bill Gates
Back in 2017, Bill Gates opened up about the technology rules in his household, explaining that he and his ex-wife Melinda waited until their children were 14 to give them phones. Even then, they had to be off their devices by a certain time and couldn’t use them when spending time with family.
“We often set a time after which there is no screen time, and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour,” he told the Mirror. “You’re always looking at how it can be used in a great way — homework and staying in touch with friends — and also where it has gotten to excess. We don’t have cellphones at the table when we are having a meal, we didn’t give our kids cell phones until they were 14 and they complained other kids got them earlier.”
