Professor Barry O'Sullivan:

Therefore, we have to deal with it. A ban would not be helpful. We have to deal with the issues of age verification, age appropriate content and simple things that could be done. If one thinks of reading a book, when getting kids off their smartphones, there are natural stopping points such as the end of a chapter. When one watches TV, one gets to the end of the programme and might go and make a cup of tea or go for a walk. When someone goes on the web or an app, he or she can keep going forever because there is no cue to stop. A smartphone manufacturer could build a very simple cue to help people to stop, for example, the screen could go blank for a minute or two after ten minutes. It could show a little timer on the top of the screen to show how much time has been spent on it. Lots of kids to whom I speak get angry with themselves when they realise how much time they have spent on their device. They think they could have gone out to play or read a book for half an hour. There are simple things that could be done. A ban is not what we want.