Government must ban smartphones in our schools...

SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Erin says: “I did a dance with my friend’s big sister and she told me she’d post it on Tiktok.

She continues: “I like Tiktok because you can post all these dances everywhere and everyone will know about you and you become famous and a little bit rich.”

Eila, who is five years old, chimes in: “It’s not fair that Erin is on Tiktok.”

It worries me that my little ones know more about Tiktok than I do.

Already they are attracted to the world of social media.

Tiktok’s terms of service say, users must be at least 13 years old to create an account.

But there’s always ways around age verification and kids fake their birth dates.

In China where Tiktok originated, the content directed towards kids includes science experiments, museum and art exhibits – all designed to “inspire kids”.

The Irish Government needs to look at what the origin country did, see how China restricted content and follow suit for our kids.

I know my kids want to dance on Tiktok at age five but what’s next?

Erin keeps asking me when she can have her first phone and I’m freaking out.

Cybersafekids’ most recent report prompted calls to have smartphones banned in school.

I welcome this, if everyone in primary school has a phone then the kids who don’t have one feel like odd ones out.

But if nobody has one, no one child feels different.

According to Cybersafekids report of the eight to 12-year-olds surveyed nearly half owned a smartphone, which was raised to three quarters by the age of 12.

Over 80 per cent of this group are on social media, and nearly a third say they have unrestricted and unsupervised internet access.

Shockingly as many as 40 per cent said they have been cyber bullied.

Cybersafekids insist that a self-regulatory framework for online safety doesn’t work, which is why the government must introduce a regulatory framework for online safety.

We can’t stop our kids going on social media – but the Government has the power to protect our vulnerable kids online.

Government needs to follow China’s lead on Tiktok