One in four six-year-olds in Ireland have their own smartphone, according to a new study from Amarach market research.
The research, conducted on behalf of CyberSafeKids, found that almost a quarter (24 per cent) of six-year-olds had a mobile phone, while 45 per cent of ten-year-olds were allowed to use their smartphone while unsupervised in their bedrooms.
The survey involved 900 parents of children between the ages of five and 17 who had smartphone access, and found that more than a quarter of parents surveyed said they were “extremely concerned” about the risk of online grooming, access to pornography, cyberbullying, and social media.
Just 28 per cent of parents said they used parental controls, despite the fact 80 per cent of parents said they felt it was their responsibility to keep their children safe online. More than half of the parents surveyed admitted they did not feel confident about keeping their children safe when using smartphones.
The research, released today for Safer Internet Day, outlined how just 20 per cent of parents believe the positives the internet could bring their children outweighed the risks.
The publication came as the organisation released a new booklet giving guidance to parents regarding the issue, entitled ‘Better Digital Parenting.’ In it, CyberSpaceKids encourages parents and guardians to “hold off for as long as possible on getting your children a smartphone.”
Head of Education and Innovation at Cybersafe Kids, Philip Arneill, pointed to the importance of parental supervision, adding that a “societal problem” presents itself.
“It’s about supervision. It’s about intervention. It’s about discussion with your children and your young people to find out what they’re doing. So parents do feel overwhelmed. And it’s very easy, I suppose, to bash parents, you know, but they’re really part of the bigger picture.
“It’s really a societal problem. And one aspect of that is parental supervision. And I think, you know, because children are born in the digital age, it doesn’t mean that they inherently have the skills to function effectively and safely in that world.”
In November, the Dáil heard that the proliferation of online hardcore pornography and violent pornography consumed by children was a driver of sexual assault by children on children, something which has seen an increase in Ireland.
“Sexual assault by children of children is also significantly on the increase. Children at Risk in Ireland, CARI, a specialist and professional therapy service, stated that more children are coming to its services who have been sexually assaulted by children. It has seen an increase of 44% in the level of sexual abuse and sexually harmful behaviour of children by children,” TD Peadar Tóibín told the House.
“Many longitudinal studies show that when adolescents consume hardcore porn, they are six times more likely to engage in violent and aggressive sexual behaviour.”
“Today, eight- and nine-year-olds have access to explicit hardcore materials that would have been illegal for adults to consume even a generation ago.
“Research at the school of psychology at the University of Galway has shown that 60% of teenage boys have consumed hardcore pornography before the age of 13,” he added.
The TD, who was speaking at the Second Stage of Aontu’s Protection of Children (Online Pornographic Material) Bill 2020, referred to parents feeling it has become “virtually impossible to exercise control” over what their children are seeing.
“It is becoming so accessible that most parents now feel it is virtually impossible for them to exercise control over what their children are consuming.
“I spoke to a person recently who told me that last Christmas, when they looked at the iPad their ten-year-old uses for the last searches the child had made, the last two searches were one for Santa Claus and a second for a video on oral sex. That is the crazy clash of images and materials that is happening in children’s lives at the moment,” the Meath TD said.
Last Spring, Mr Toibin argued that smartphones should be banned from primary schools across the country, as he cited an increase in anxiety among primary school pupils.
Teachers in the UK will soon be banning mobile phone use during the school day, after UK Education Secretary Gillian Keegan announced new guidance in October, which aims to tackle behaviour problems. The guidance is set to support teachers in banning the phones during the school day – including at break times.
Also in the UK, last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was urged by Conservative MP Miriam Cates to introduce a ban on smartphones for under-16s.
Cates, a mother of three, has claimed that parents are ill-equipped to fight the “power of Big Tech over our children’s lives,” adding that “the law must be on their side.”
She noted how in the UK the suicide rate for 15-19s has doubled for boys since 2010 and trebled for girls.
“Of course, ‘successful’ suicides are still mercifully rare, but by every conceivable measure of wellbeing — incidences of self-harm, prevalence of negative or depressive feelings, loneliness, feelings of failure — teenage happiness is following a steel downward trend,” Cates said in January.
Ms Cates said smartphone use had driven an “epidemic of teen anxiety and depression,” stating:
“Since 2010, smartphone ownership and social media usage have grown rapidly, and both now have an almost ubiquitous place in the lives of children and young people. It is clear from the work of Jonathan Haidt and others that social media use — with the resulting exposure to harmful content and loss of face-to-face relationships, time outdoors and sleep — is the most likely culprit for this collapse in teen wellbeing.”
She added: “Whether it’s the lonely nine-year-old who finds himself with no one to play with because his friends spend their evenings on TikTok, the 14-year-old boy with a devastating porn addiction, the 15-year-old girl groomed bullied into uploading explicit pictures that are sent round the school, or the 13-year-old girl finding 101 ways to become anorexic, smartphone and social media are robbing our children of their childhood.”
While opponents have argued that a ban simply would not work, the influential conservative has insisted: “No sane society can let this continue.”