Sir, – As a parent of 12- and 10-year-old boys I couldn’t agree more with Jennifer O’Connell’s article “My 13-year-old doesn’t have a smartphone. Parents can say no” (Magazine, November 23rd).
As a primary school teacher I despair at hearing parents of nine- and 10-year-old children saying, “Oh sure, we had to get her (or him) a smartphone as all her friends have one.” Meanwhile, teachers and principals are left to deal with the distressing fallout of the all too frequent cyberbullying of innocent children, who should never have been exposed to these risks in the first place.
It’s time for parents to be parents again. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN GORMAN,
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Skerries,
Co Dublin.