‘Vulnerable’ teenagers need smartphones, insists Esther Rantzen

DAME ESTHER RANTZEN has insisted that teenagers do need smartphones because the internet is “where children are”.

The Childline founder, 83, insisted that hi-tech mobile devices have a place in young lives after Sophie Winkleman said children should be given “brick” phones that only call and text instead.

The actress and campaigner, 43, said there were “only downsides” to children having access to social media and called on ministers to ban smartphones for under-16s.

But in a letter to Dame Esther said that three quarters of children who contact Childline for help do so on the charity’s website through livechat functions and a message board.

“Sophie Winkleman is clearly unaware how crucial it is that vulnerable children are able to access Childline’s online services and they can only do so using smartphones,” Dame Esther, who has three children in their 40s, said.

She added: “I myself have seen how two suicidal children, one abused at home, the other seriously bullied for being gay, contacted Childline via the internet and were both given the comfort and protection they desperately needed by counsellors using our livechat service.

“I asked a group of young people visiting Childline whether they would prefer to phone or use the internet if they were suffering, and they all said they would find it easier to write.

“That is where children are these days, where Childline needs to be to help them, and for that they need a smartphone.”

Dame Esther’s letter came in response to comments from Ms Winkleman, who is the daughter-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, on

Planet Normal podcast. Ms Winkleman, who has two daughters with her husband, Lord Frederick Windsor, the second cousin to the King, said: “Something needs to happen from higher-up. I don’t know how anyone can defend social media and smartphone use for under-16s.

“When people say, ‘I want to know my child is safe…’ There are different kinds of brick phones that call and text.

“If you really want to know where your child is every second of the day, you can put a little tracker in his trainer.

“Why do they need anything other than to call and text each other?

“I don’t understand it. There’s only downsides.” She claimed that social media use had “without a doubt” contributed to a rising suicide rate among 15 to 19-year-olds, and to increases in anxiety, depression, selfharm and anorexia.

But Dame Esther disagreed, stressing that the solution was for the law to make social media sites legally responsible and accountable for any harm they cause.