I’m a dad of two and I think a smartphone ban is a terrible idea (if you don’t, you’re a hypocrite)

It’s more important than ever that we educate our kids about how to spot ‘fake news’ and disinformation, writes Oliver Keens – and they can’t do that if they’re left in the dark

‘If you want your child to have a screen-free life – and also have a sliver of respect for you – there is no equivocation here: give up your own phone first before you try to ban theirs’ (Getty/iStock)

Today, around 3,000 schools in the UK have had to stop educating children and instead let adults use their buildings as polling stations in which to exercise their democratic right to vote. But what of the democratic rights of children?

It seems almost quaint to consider that they have any – despite the fact that around a fifth of the population, over 14 million people, are under the voting age of 18.

To my mind, nothing says more about how little we value those rights than the concept of a smartphone ban for young people – an idea the government will soon be consulting on. Will they actively seek the views of those it will affect, or will a cabal of very motivated adults drown them out? I suspect the latter.