Smartphones are everywhere, and we know the risks they pose, yet we still give them to children

It was very much a case of preaching to the converted when I read an article on the absolute dangers of smartphones for children.

But why am I in the minority? Why are droves of pre-teen and young teenage children walking around, heads down, glued to their phones as if in some new depiction of evolution? Why are the adults allowing it?

Every article, including the ones you have published, concerning young people and smartphones, highlights the exposure to sexually explicit content, bullying, self-harm, disassociation from reality, lack of engagement and more.

Yet more and more young children are being bought smartphones and are using apps that are damaging to them. How can we reach the parents who are apparently refusing to read and refusing to listen?

It is exasperating to be the parent who does not conform to this new-age criteria. It is sadder still to witness the change in the children handed these devices long before time should permit.

Thank you for publishing the anonymous article ‘My 12-year-old received sexually explicit photos on her phone – despite our efforts to keep her safe’ (Irish Independent, April 10).

It is a cautionary tale. The punchline, as delivered by a policeman, was that handing a child a smartphone was like giving them pornography and telling them not to look at it… or as a local member of An Garda Síochána told the tiny group of parents who attended an internet safety talk in my area, it is akin to handing them a loaded gun.

I suppose I must be a dinosaur. But no, I too am the owner of the cursed smartphone. Luckily, I am old enough to know what a general pain in the proverbial it actually is. Unluckily for my kids, they won’t be getting one for their confirmation.

Róisín Keegan Castlebar, Co Mayo