'Britain's strictest headmistress' warns early smartphone access makes kids easily exploitable
“In a more lax environment, that's when kids end up pursuing routes out there that are really quite horrifying,” Katharine Birbalsingh warned, noting how “then parents don't know what's happening to their child and it's just awful.”
As children begin being exposed to social media at younger and younger ages, Britain's 'strictest headmistress' is warning that giving kids access to smartphones opens them up to the harms of online exploitations.
“We strongly encourage the families not to give their children smartphones so that they're not accessing the web,” Katharine Birbalsingh told Rebel News UK's Sammy Woodhouse, who caught up with the Michaela Community School headteacher at the ARC Conference in London.
“In a more lax environment, that's when kids end up pursuing routes out there that are really quite horrifying,” she said, “and then parents don't know what's happening to their child and it's just awful.”
Resurfaced debates in the United Kingdom around so-called “grooming gangs” — groups of mostly Pakistani men who preyed on young British girls — have highlighted the importance of being informed about potential online dangers.
“It's one of the reasons why I'm so determined about the smartphone point and not allowing children on social media, because it's so dangerous,” Birbalsingh explained.
“What parents don't realize is if you're letting your kid roam around on social media, you're letting every gang member out there, every pedophile out there, know where your child lives, know what they like to do, know who their friends are, know their route to school,” the headmistress cautioned.
“And then your child is communicating with these people, and you don't even know that they're communicating with them. And by the time you find out, it's too late because they've been groomed.”
Parents need to stay vigilant, Birbalsingh told Rebel News, even with children in their teens.
“If the child is six years old, parents understand. But when they're 13, 14, 15 — people have this sense of, well the child is grown up now. They're not grown up, they're still children.”
Sixteen is the age she said parents should consider allowing kids on social media — but even then “it's dangerous,” she added.
The Michaela Community School has frequently seen its pupils achieve some of the highest results in England.
COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-02-18 21:16:56 -0500Kids shouldn’t have smart phones at an early age. When I was young, radio and television stations were regulated. But kids can blunder into all sorts of bad places on the Internet. And access to the Internet is NOT a right. Were I a parent, I would refuse to let my children have such a phone until they prove they won’t abuse it.
