Are you planning to give your child their first smartphone?

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our project. 

My First Phone is a new documentary exploring one of today’s most personal and widely shared family milestones: giving a child their first smartphone. In the U.S., 95% of kids own a phone by the time they’re teenagers — but how, when, and why they get that first phone varies dramatically from family to family.

Some parents feel excited. Others feel anxious. Many kids can’t wait. And for most families, it just sort of… happens. But despite how universal this moment has become, no documentary has ever set out to explore it, until now.

We grew up as Millennials, when getting a driver’s license at sixteen marked a new kind of freedom. For today’s kids, that rite of passage looks different: it’s the moment they get their first smartphone. Part of the idea for this film was sparked by a question: what if there were such a thing as a digital “learner’s permit”, a guided introduction to the most powerful device of their lives?

Our goal is to create an honest, insightful, and human portrait of what it means for kids - and their parents - to take this step together.

With gratitude,

Mishka Kornai & Zach Wechter

Directors, My First Phone