A smartphone ban for kids ‘is not the answer’, warns expert

An expert on child protection has said banning children from having smartphones would be "ridiculous".

Former police officer Jim Gamble was previously head of the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and is now is CEO of online security company Ineqe. Reacting to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's proposal to prohibit children under 14 owning smartphones, he said a ban is not the answer. "I would no more support a smartphone ban than I would support not teaching our children to read and write in case they went to a library and opened a book with something in it that we didn’t like," he told the Star. "The suggestion of a smartphone ban is ridiculous." He said he understood people's concerns about the potential threats their kids face on the internet but that the "positive messages" about predators being apprehended are not getting through to people. "A smartphone ban is not the answer." Speaking last month, the Taoiseach said that he would "look in to" banning under-14s from having their own smartphones in order to protect them from things like cyberbullying and online grooming. There have been increased calls lately for protection for kids online. "10 years ago road safety was a big problem in our country," said Jason Sheehy, director of iKydz. "Now, the first thing a child does in the car is puts on their safety belt. "The government went about a very smart campaign and said we need to address this issue, and it’s the exact same with the mobile phones."