Time to protect our kids

A PROPOSED new law to protect children from online harm will be brought to Parliament tomorrow.

- LIZZY BUCHAN

Labour MP Josh MacAlister wants to safeguard youngsters from the dangers of excessive screen time by making mobiles less addictive.

The former teacher said: "We need the equivalent of the seatbelt legislation for smartphone use for children." He will table the private members' bill in a bid to make smartphone bans in school a legal requirement.

The Safer Phones Bill would also crack down on doom scrolling when people compulsively read negative news or social media posts, which can trigger anxiety and despair.

The plans include raising the age of internet adulthood from 13 to 16, making it harder for social media giants to access kids' data, which is used to feed them addictive content.

Strengthening Ofcom's powers to allow the watchdog to enforce a code of conduct to prevent children being exposed to apps that are addictive by design is also part of the bill.