Isabel Webster says what you’re thinking
ISABEL PHOTO: STUART MITCHELL. OTHER PHOTOS (MAIN AND SAUCY TELLY POSED BY MODELS): GETTY
GIVE KIDS BACK THEIR CHILDHOOD
I’ll never forget the look on her face. Sitting just a metre away from me, in a brightly lit television studio, a heartbroken mother, bravely sharing the appalling story of her daughter and how she’d been so mercilessly trolled online that she took her own life.
Now, hardly a week goes by when I’m not talking on GB News Breakfast, along with my co-host Eamonn Holmes, about another tragedy, another child lost – either a TikTok stunt gone wrong or another suicide. Recent government figures showed females under 24 years had seen the largest increase in suicide rates since records began in 1981. So why in God’s name aren’t we sitting up and taking notice?
These are extreme cases, but experts are warning of a rise in anxiety and depression linked to these addictive devices. An online safety charity in the UK reported three-quarters of girls aged 13-16 have had ‘harmful or potentially harmful’ digital experiences and that parents are saying online harassment of girls is ‘so standard it’s not noteworthy’. The co-executive chair of Internet Matters warns, ‘We’ve collectively lost sight of the fact that what is unacceptable offline should also be unacceptable online.’ Too right. We’re sleepwalking into a generational nightmare.
Tech companies won’t clean up their platforms. The government can’t seem to legislate to protect against this nonsense. Hell, even the Royal Family can’t seem to shield themselves from trolling.
So, it seems to me, the only way to protect our young is to be bold and say NO to smartphones and social media for the under-16s. Calls for this are gaining traction. Kirstie Allsopp, Kate Silverton and Jamie Redknapp are just a few of the high-profile parents backing restrictions. Other parents are reaching tipping point too. Parent-led campaigns Smartphone Free Childhood and UsForThem’s Safe Screens have both mushroomed in recent months – which gives me huge hope. Our children are being robbed of their childhood and it’s about time we gave it back, before it’s too late.
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