How young is too young for a child to have their own mobile phone? Staying connected is super important for many parents, especially those sending their kids off to big school for the first time. But are we just swapping real world dangers for online ones? We spoke to some experts for their advice to parents this back to school season.
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00:00 Parents think the decision of whether or not to give their child a phone ranks equally
00:08 as hard as choosing what school they should go to. So it's a big decision and one that
00:13 parents spend a lot of time worrying about before they finally decide to go for it. And
00:19 that go for it moment actually tends to be the start of secondary school. So that's the
00:25 time when 74% of parents told us that they were worried about their child traveling to
00:33 and from school and knowing where they are because I guess it's the first time they're
00:38 really out in the world on their own. Phones these days, we are talking about smartphones.
00:42 So we're talking about phones that have access to huge areas of the internet, social media,
00:49 gaming, being able to download, stream, being able to purchase things online. There's many
00:54 things that it sort of opens up to children. And I think it's that sort of breadth of things
00:59 that it opens up that can give parents a lot of fear and a lot of worry and what risks might
01:05 they come across. So the contact that they might receive is they're going to be unwanted contact,
01:10 grooming, bullying that they may experience online, but also kind of exposure to harmful
01:16 content to age inappropriate content that exists out there on the internet.
01:22 The autumn term for around 10 million students across the UK is now upon us.
01:26 Many of those students will be making the huge step from primary school to secondary,
01:31 a time where many parents feel their children are ready for their first mobile phones. In fact,
01:36 three quarters of parents feel it's important for a child to have a phone when they start
01:40 secondary school, but over half worry about them having one.
01:43 Getting it right from the start is really important. So the parental controls that are
01:49 available obviously give you a variety of options. So you could put spending restrictions on your
01:57 child's phone. You can set timers of when it can go off at night. There are lots of different
02:05 options available. And I think the important thing is to discuss that with your child and
02:11 make sure that they feel that you're on the journey together.
02:15 If trouble does arise, what is the best port of call? What should parents and kids be doing?
02:20 Where can they go for more information?
02:22 Yeah, so one of the most important things you can do is make sure that your child knows that
02:27 their safety is of the utmost importance. And it sounds like a really obvious thing to say.
02:30 But we hear through Childline that children can really worry when there's kind of family
02:35 rules in place about when they use technology and if they experience harm when they've done
02:40 something, perhaps gone on a device when they weren't supposed to. So make sure that they know
02:44 that first and foremost. In terms of where you go to get support, there is so much help out there
02:50 for you. At the NSPCC, we operate our NSPCC Helpline for adults who are worried about
02:56 a child's safety, whether online or offline. You can contact us any time,
03:00 day or night, with concerns that you might have and get help.