Giving your child a smartphone is like "giving them a gram of cocaine¹", a top addiction² therapist has warned.

 

一位顶级的成瘾治疗师警告说，给孩子一部智能手机就好像“给他们一克可卡因”。

 

Time spent messaging friends on Snapchat and Instagram can be just as dangerously addictive³ for teenagers as drugs and alcohol, and should be treated as such, school leaders and teachers were told at an education conference in London.

 

Speaking alongside experts in technology addiction and adolescent development, Harley Street rehab clinic specialist Mandy Saligari said screen time was too often overlooked as a potential vehicle for addiction in young people.

 

"I always say to people, when you're giving your kid a tablet or a phone, you're really giving them a bottle of wine or a gram of coke," she said.

 

"Why do we pay so much less attention to those things than we do to drugs and alcohol when they work on the same brain impulses?"

 

Ofcom figures suggest more than four in ten parents of 12-15 year-olds find it hard to control their children's screen time.

 

Even three and four year olds consume an average of six and half hours of internet time per week, according to the broadcasting regulators.

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