Mobile phones and social media.

The curse of modern times.

Observing people walking around any town or city is like watching a zombie movie.

I have actually seen one woman walk straight across the road in front of a bus in London, so engrossed was she on her phone.

My main concern, however, is for children.

Research shows that by the age of 12, 97 per cent of all children own a mobile phone and half of them use at least one app or site to access a deluge of material, much of it inappropriate.

Ofcom’s chief executive has described “aggressive algorithms,” which use addictive ‘infinite scrolling’, pushing pornography, violence, abuse and self-harm content to young users.

Perilous effects on children’s mental health are well documented, as is online bullying, which affects approximately a fifth of older schoolchildren.

The Education Secretary highlights a ‘daily battle’ in the classroom, with recent Government guidance recommending a ban in school.

New evidence from Policy Exchange shows that schools which adopt a ban achieve significantly better GCSE results than those with less strict policies.

Two major interventions are intended to counter this growing concern.

The first is the Online Safety Bill, which is about to become law, making the tech giants responsible for potential harm to their users.

This marks the end of self-regulation for these sites and forces them to accept a ‘duty of care’ to those who visit them. The second is the introduction of rigorous new age checks for children under 13.

Ofcom plans will force these platforms to ask for proof of age, including photo id.

Failure to comply will incur severe fines.

Stuffing the genie back in the bottle is now impossible, but efforts can and must be made to protect our children.