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ISPCC say that children who send nude photos see it as a way of practicing safe sex. Shutterstock/Petr Bonek
what do you think
Poll: At what age should children get a smartphone?
The ISPCC said they had a case of a nine-year-old sending nude pictures of herself to her classmates.
WHAT AGE SHOULD children be given their first smartphone?
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s director of services said yesterday that children’s attitudes towards sexuality has been changed through using their phones.
“Sexting is a huge issue,” Caroline O’Sullivan said, adding that it was most striking that this “had become the norm, not the exception”.
She gave the example of one of their cases which involved “a nine-year-old child who would have sent nude pictures of herself to her classmates, to the boys in her class.
For her, in this particular case, that was what she thought would have been expected.
The comments were made at the Children and Youth Affairs Committee on the topic of cyber safety and how to protection children now that most have smartphones and unlimited access to the internet.
So we’re asking: At what age do you think children should get a smartphone?
Poll Results:
13 - 15 years old (11222)
16 - 18 years old (4709)
10 - 12 years old (3489)
9 years old or younger (358)
As soon as they want one (213)
have your say