Could YOU COPE without YOUR PHONE?

From schoolkids to retirees, we're hooked on screens. Features editor Ella Dove investigates whether a digital detox can break the habit

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When was the last time someone walked into you because they were looking at their phone? For me, it happens multiple times a day, and I am equally guilty of being the person on the other side of this. If ever I leave the house without my phone, I feel naked and vulnerable.

Sound familiar? Studies have found the average smartphone owner will click, tap or swipe a whopping 2,617 times a day. Shockingly, 87% of people check their devices within an hour of going to bed or within an hour of waking up. It's having a huge impact on children – 97% of whom have a smartphone by the age of 12. Government guidance on phones in schools remains broad but it’s a contentious topic – some schools ban phones while others allow pupils to keep them but ban usage during school hours.

Labour MP and former teacher Josh MacAlister has recently introduced a new Private Members’ Bill – the Safer Phones Bill. This calls for chief medical officers to issue guidance on the use of smartphones and social media use by children within 12 months, and for the government to say within a year whether it will raise the digital age of consent from 13 to 16 – meaning companies could not receive children’s data without parental permission until that age. Originally, it also proposed a total ban on phones in schools, but this has since been dropped. Further debate has now been adjourned until 11 July.

A problem for all ages