Ministers are drawing up plans to advise parents not to buy smartphones for children until secondary school, as part of a review on screen use for under-16s. The consultation, co-chaired by the Children's Commissioner, will produce guidelines on healthy screen use and consider age-appropriate recommendations. Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has warned that smartphones give paedophiles direct access to children.
The UK government is considering issuing formal guidance advising parents not to purchase smartphones for their children until they reach secondary school age, as part of a broader review of screen use among under-16s.
The proposed consultation, co-chaired by Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, aims to establish age-appropriate recommendations for children's access to internet-enabled devices. Dame Rachel has previously stated that primary school-aged children are too young to safely navigate the online world, and the review will explore whether parents should receive explicit warnings about the risks of early smartphone ownership.
The initiative has drawn support from former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who resigned from the government partly due to what she perceived as insufficient action to protect children online. Phillips criticized the notion that giving a child a smartphone enhances their safety, calling it the greatest lie ever peddled by technology companies. In a stark warning, she argued that under current regulations, providing a smartphone to a child effectively gives paedophiles direct access to them.
Phillips emphasized that tech firms already possess the capability to prevent the taking or sharing of nude images of children through nudity filters that exist on current devices, but have failed to implement them proactively. The review will produce guidelines on healthy screen use for children aged five to 16, potentially including recommendations that under-fives spend no more than one hour per day on screens.
It will also examine the role of screens in schools, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson cautioning against a complete return to pen-and-paper methods but acknowledging that parents need support to navigate challenges that previous generations did not face. Dame Rachel highlighted that while young people derive significant benefits from technology, they struggle to disconnect, and both children and adults desire clear, trustworthy information alongside action to remove explicit and harmful content.
Additionally, ministers are poised to unveil plans to crack down on technology that facilitates the sharing of intimate images among children. Phillips asserted that tech companies have the ability to make it impossible for such images to be taken or shared, and that nudity filters already exist on common smartphones.
The government's move reflects growing concern over the impact of smartphones on child development, mental health, and safety, and signals a potential shift toward more stringent regulation of children's digital access. Parents are expected to be key recipients of the new guidance, which would aim to empower them to make informed decisions about their children's screen time and device ownership.
The consultation is part of a wider effort to balance the benefits of technology with the need to protect young people from its most serious harms, and it has reignited debate over the appropriate age for children to engage with digital platforms and the responsibility of tech companies in safeguarding minors
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