THE VAST MAJORITY of parents don’t want children under 14 to have smartphones, according to a new poll.

The poll was carried out by Amárach Research for RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live.

Earlier this week, experts told the Oireachtas Children and Youth Affairs Committee that it should be “frowned upon” for parents to give a smartphone to children before a certain age.

They were speaking in the context of the issue of digital consent. During the session, it was acknowledged that there is a problem of “peer pressure” for parents surrounding the issue of phones – and that some children might be bullied if they don’t have a smartphone.

Last year Fine Gael TD Jim Daly attempted to bring in a bill that would restrict minors aged under 14 to own a mobile phone that has internet access.

Speaking at the time, he said: “When people ask me, ‘what age should my child be before I buy them a such a device?’ I reply: ‘whatever age you are happy with them viewing pornography’.”

When the Claire Byrne Live show asked this week “should parents or guardians of children aged under 14 allow them to have smart phones?”, it found that the majority of parents don’t want their child owning such a phone.

The results of the poll are:

• Yes 22%
• No 66%
• Don’t know 12%

Read: It should be ‘frowned upon’ for parents to give young children a smartphone, politicians told>

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