By Tom Swarbrick

I’ve got a ten-year-old and an eight-year-old.

My eldest is right at the age where some of his mates are starting to get phones. He’s been told very firmly that it won’t happen until he’s at least 14. Needless to say, he’s not impressed.

We’ve already got iPads and a PlayStation in the house. Even with limits on how long they’re used and what can be accessed, the phone feels like an entirely different beast – a whole new world of pain. As a parent, it can feel like you’re single-handedly trying to hold back the tide against the nonsense flooding into their lives. You want to preserve what innocence they’ve got left, to protect childhood before it disappears altogether.

The stories we’ve heard during LBC’s Online Safety Day – and those I’ve heard among friends........

© LBC