TOUGH CALLS

Former Blue Peter presenter and mum-of-two Konnie Huq talks to LISA SALMON about when and how to introduce kids to the world of smartphones

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FOR many parents, their children's smartphone use is a relentless bone of contention.

But Konnie Huq is pleased to say she’s not on the receiving end of any mobile phone grief from her two boys - at least, not yet.

The TV presenter’s sons with her writer and TV presenter husband Charlie Brooker, Covey, 13, and Huxley, 11, don’t have fully-functioning smartphones, and Konnie says her eldest son uses a ‘brick phone’ with very basic functions, and hasn’t asked for a smartphone yet.

“So I'll wait until he wants one and is ready for one. But at the moment, he’s quite happy,” she explains.

Her youngest son hasn't got a smartphone yet either, but he’s about to start secondary school, and Konnie says: “That's a conversation I'll be having with him before the start of the new term, definitely. He's been asking for a smartphone since forever.”

So Konnie and Charlie got him a smartphone, but without a sim, and she says: “He didn’t really twig that it’s just essentially an iPad, but not as big, without a sim in it.”

The former Blue Peter presenter knows it probably won't be long before her boys possess fully functioning smartphones, but she’s prepared for that eventuality, and is backing a new initiative by EE, the P.H.O.N.E. Contract, which is a free, customisable agreement parents and children can use to set boundaries around smartphone behaviour.

It is developed with the help of Konnie, the newly formed EE Youth Council, and Internet Matters.