'WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN'

Lauren Cowell tells HELLO! why she's backing the campaign for a ban on social-media platforms for under-16s

- LAURA BENJAMIN

For Lauren and Simon Cowell, the decision to let Eric, their 12-year-old son, have a phone wasn't something they took lightly.

As Lauren began to research the effects of social media on young people, she came across powerful stories from parents who had lost their children to the dangers of the internet, and the issue shifted from a personal debate to a passionate cause.

Lauren has recently lent her voice to the Raise the Age campaign, which seeks to ban all “harmful” social-media platforms for children under the age of 16 in the UK.

“I think we need to act to protect our children, because they are vulnerable and they don't have the voice and the capacity to advocate for themselves,” she tells HELLO!. “We need to be the ones who do that for them.”

She came across Raise the Age while thinking over her son's request to have his own phone. The situation came to a head when she realised that Eric had downloaded Snapchat on her device without her knowledge.