Children under 11 should not have their own smartphones due to ‘concerns over depression’, experts warn

CHILDREN under 11 should not be allowed smartphones, say experts.

They say that if the government set guidelines it would help parents resist kids’ demands.

Almost 40 per cent of eight to 11-year-olds have a phone.

Dr Jon Goldin, of the Royal ­College of Psychiatrists, said: “Children often say to parents, ‘All my friends are (getting phones) and you are not allowing me to do that’.

“I don’t think we can legislate, but this guidance would back ­parents up when they were having conversations with ten-year-olds.”

He also warned children should spend no more than two hours a day on social media amid concerns over depression and anxiety.

Dr Goldin told The Daily Telegraph: “We don’t think social media companies are policing themselves adequately.

"We are supporting more robust age verification as an absolute minimum.”

A poll of 1,000 parents for the Priory group of mental health clinics found two-thirds of parents would back Government advice.

And 44 per cent supported a ban on all under 16s having a mobile.

The group’s Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg said schools should help parents develop pacts where they agreed not to buy their kids phones “even up to GCSE”.

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