Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Debate between Lord Knight of Weymouth and Baroness Meyer

Monday 23rd June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Knight of Weymouth (Lab)]

At what age does the noble Baroness think that children should be taught how to use phones safely?

[Baroness Meyer (Con)]

Children could use phones that do not connect to the internet—phones that do not access social media—like the old phones, if they need to phone their parents in an emergency. With the mobile phones that we are talking about now, for children under the age of 16, their brains are not developed enough to understand the harms and dangers—and, as we have said, it is all very addictive. Big tech companies know how to get children to look at certain sites. In our generation, we did not have phones and we did not have that exposure to predators, and we did not have so many mental health issues among the youth.