Parents urged to stop giving children ‘digital dummies’

PARENTS were urged to stop handing out “digital dummies” to their children after a study found more than one in 20 would let their child have their first mobile phone by the age of six.

A quarter of parents said they would give their child a phone by the age of nine, while one in 20 said they let their child spend five or more hours a day on their phone, and a quarter allowed them two to five hours.

Tanya Goodin, a tech-detox expert and author of Stop Staring at Screens, said the findings were “deeply depressing”. “Is raising a child under six considered so demanding now that the only way parents can deal with it is doling out digital dummies?” she asked.

“What on earth is a five-year old going to use a smartphone for?”

Dr Jon Goldin, the vice-chairman of the adolescent and child faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the findings underlined the need for Government guidance to support parents in their efforts to rein in their children’s dependency on smartphones. He advocated the Government advising that children should not be given phones before 11 years old.

While 6.4 per cent would give their child a phone by the age of six, 23 per cent would delay it until they were 13 or over, according to the poll of 1,000 parents.

Ofcom data shows 5 per cent of five to seven-year-olds own a smartphone, rising to 39 per cent by the age of 11, when they start secondary school. On average, infant children spend just over an hour a day online.