We must not gamble with children’s safety

THE hazards of smartphones to children and young teenagers is highlighted by the recent experience of an English family who saw their 13-year-old child gamble the equivalent of €91,500 of their money while falling into the grip of a severe addiction.

In all the stages of the sorry saga, the smartphone played a pivotal role.

Without ready access to a smartphone, the youngster could not have taken photographs of his parents’ credit cards, enabling him to run up massive debts betting on horses and sports fixtures.

Without his smartphone, the teenager would have had to try to satisfy his addiction in a bookies – but he would have been barred due to his age.

Online betting apps helped fuel his secret addiction, as they do for so many teenage gamblers. In the UK last year, a report showed that 25,000 children aged between 11 and 16 were addicted to gambling.

Teenagers are simply neither emotionally nor mentally equipped for the vast power and potential minefields handed to them by smartphone technology.

The 13-year-old whose debts almost ruined his family and threatened the future of their business may seem like an extreme example of the misfortune that can befall youngsters online, but we would be mistaken to believe this case is unique.

From online grooming and bullying to sexploitation and screen addiction, the dangers that smartphones pose for children have been assiduously recorded by this newspaper.

Backed by experts such as cyberpsychologist Dr Mary Aiken, our campaign to set a minimum age for smartphone ownership continues. More than 2,000 of our readers have signed our petition to that effect, while many public figures have joined in our effort to protect childhood from online temptation and danger.