The UK could ban the sale of smartphones to kids under 16

Endymio said:

Children still get their hands on alcohol, tobacco, and sometimes even heroin and guns. By your logic, we shouldn't waste time on ineffectual laws against such.

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Yet most parents teach their kids “don’t do drugs”, “don’t steal” and generally don’t let their kids drink underage (or at least, without supervision).

What should really be happening here is the government pushing to educate parents on web filtering and child locks on their Smartphones.

Again, parents are the ones who bought their children Smartphones in the first place, they have just as much power to take them away.

Introducing laws to just outright ban them without any kind of education around the benefits of a Smartphone and child locks, filtering etc…

Well it begs the question “if parents think smartphone are so bad, why has 99% of them just left their child with one”.

Burty117 said:

What should really be happening here is the government pushing to educate parents on web filtering and child locks on their Smartphones.

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This is the logical fallacy known as the False Dilemma. The government can do both this AND enact laws to better protect children. And in fact, most governments are working to educate parents on just these issues.

Endymio said:

This is the logical fallacy known as the False Dilemma. The government can do both this AND enact laws to better protect children. And in fact, most governments are working to educate parents on just these issues.

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Yeah fine, enact a law that says under 16’s can’t purchase Smartphones, fine, it won’t do anything as no under 16 has money to buy an iPhone.

If this is the government’s effort to educate parents about child locks and web filtering, they might be doing the worst job ever seen by human kind.

I don’t see anyone talking about web filtering, I don’t see any adverts for any such services, I don’t see the government posting links or talking about child locks / web filtering in interviews.

If this is their way of educating… well… anything, they’re doing such a poor job if it, none of the parents seem to understand what they are still.

Again though, nobody’s been able to answer this, why are the parents, who willing and openly admit to buying their children Smartphones, now refusing to take away said smartphone?

“I’m going to lobby for laws to try and takeaway my child’s Smartphone, but I’m not prepared to do it myself”.

Why?