Toxic trouble awaiting our boys online

THE success of Adolescence has fuelled calls for ministers to wake up to the danger posed to young people by smartphones, social media and toxic online "influencers".

- By David Williamson

The Netflix drama, starring Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper, portrays a family's devastation when a 13-year-old boy is arrested on suspicion of killing a female classmate.

Former Conservative MP Miriam Cates, who is deeply concerned about the plight of British boys, says it strikes a chord with “millions of parents, teachers and teenagers who recognise the extraordinary influence of the online world on young men”.

The GB News presenter and senior fellow at the Centre for Social Justice think tank also warned that children with smartphones are just a “click away from the kind of toxic content that desensitises them to violence”.

She added that the internet “is no place for children”, describing it as “a space where paedophiles, predators and pornographers roam free”.