‘Surrounded by a Billion Strangers’: The Risks of Your Child’s First Smartphone — and How to Deal With Them
By Brad Young, Money reporter
If your child is about to enter high school, you may be planning to spend hundreds of dollars on his or her first smartphone.
But choosing a high-priced contract is just the first in a series of difficult decisions parents face as their child becomes more independent online.
While phones offer great benefits in terms of connectivity and independence, they also expose children to risks ranging from accidental bill payments to sexual exploitation and AI-enabled bullying.
Sky News spoke to experts in the field about the trends parents should be aware of and the tools they can use to tackle them.
According to Childnet, a UK charity dedicated to keeping children safe online, there are four categories of risks to children.
These are contentssuch as pornography or gambling, Contactsuch as grooming or cyberbullying, tradewhere children have accidentally built up huge bills, and behaviourincluding what information a child shares online.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has identified “a very sharp increase in young people being sexually exploited and manipulated over the internet” without having to leave their homes, said Kate Edwards, the foundation’s deputy head of child online safety.
This concerns incidents where a child is incited to commit his/her own abuse. This abuse can be filmed or photographed and shared.
Ms Edwards said young people had also reported incidents of sextortion themselves, where they are “tricked into sharing a sexual image of themselves and then held to ransom” under threat that they will not share the image.
The charity has received calls from children reporting that generative AI is being used to bully, manipulate or misdiagnose children, as well as concerns about content that could contribute to eating disorders or suicide.
“The age at which an eating disorder presents itself can be quite young. If this is around the same age as someone getting their first phone, it is important that parents are aware of the risks,” says Umairah Malik, clinical advice co-ordinator at Beat, the UK’s leading charity for eating disorders.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, children aged 13 to 17 are at greatest risk of developing an eating disorder.
Video content shared on social media is particularly difficult to regulate. Videos that focus on body image or what an influencer eats in a day can lead to disruptive behavior in vulnerable viewers.
“We gave him a loaded gun”
Social media played a role in the murder of Amanda Stephens’ son Olly, 13, who was lured to a field near his Reading home in 2021 and stabbed after an online row.
Ms Stephens now believes the risks of smartphones are too great for children to own one.
“Looking back, I almost felt proud when we gave Olly his first phone. Now it feels like we gave him a loaded gun,” she said.
“He was subjected to terrible violence, threats and bullying, right under our roof.”
During the trial of two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old girl, Ms Stephens discovered there was little control over violent language or the sharing of images of knives on social media.
“In the safety of their own home, they are surrounded by a billion strangers.”
She is not alone in supporting an outright ban: the House of Commons Education Select Committee has advised the government to consider legislation banning mobile phones for children under 16.
According to Ofcom, phone ownership among 12-year-olds is almost universal.
But there are tools parents can use.
“There are lots of resources to help them. I know it can feel really scary when you hear about all the risks,” Ms Edwards said.
“What’s important to emphasize is that while there are all these risks, that doesn’t mean that every child who uses a smartphone is going to face those risks and that there are only risks to using this technology. There are also a lot of benefits.”
What can parents do to increase safety?
Ms Edwards said parents should have open conversations with their children and work with them to set limits and break down authority barriers between parent and child.
And no matter what rules apply, the most important thing is to let your child know that his or her safety comes before any rule.
A common issue children report to Childline is online harm or abuse through breaking a family rule, such as using a device at night. The children were therefore afraid of getting into trouble and therefore did not talk about it, she said.
Ms Edwards said parents can contact their mobile provider and report it as a child phone, and the provider will then put in place additional barriers, such as blocks on content or spending.
At home, Internet providers offer tools that allow you to set limits on what can be accessed over WiFi.
Will Gardener, CEO of Childnet International, pointed to Apple’s Family Sharing account and Google’s Family Link. These accounts connect a child’s phone to the parent’s, allowing for some control over quiet time. For example, certain apps can be disabled within certain time frames.
They can also be used to approve payments, verify app download requests, and monitor usage.
Apps also have their own safety mechanisms, Edwards said, such as whether someone can contact your child, share things about them, and play games with other people.
Parents and children should also be aware of the support mechanisms available.
The NSCC Safety Platform has more information on how to keep children safe online. Thanks to their partnership with Vodafone, they have developed a toolkit to help you think about your child’s first phone.
Children can confidentially report sexual images or videos to Childline and the IWF’s Report Remove, which will ensure they are removed from the internet.
Adults who have concerns about the safety or welfare of a child can contact the NSPCC helpline at [email protected] or by calling 0808 800 5000. Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or childline.org.uk.
If you are concerned about your health or that of someone else, you can contact Beat on 0808 801 0677 or beateatingdisorders.org.uk.
If you are experiencing emotional distress or are feeling suicidal you can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK.
