When I’m not being a writer or a journalist, I often go into schools and talk to parents and young children about the benefits of taking a regular break from their phones. It’s the second year that I have co-presented an e-safety campaign for Safer Internet Week and whereas last year I felt we were slightly ahead of the curve, 2019 feels very different already.
There’s been a recent spate of stories about young people who have taken their own lives. When I used to do my talk about how beneficial it is to switch off all tech at least an hour before bed, and keep it out of bedrooms, the most powerful example I could use that parents would definitely have heard of was the tragic case of Surrey schoolboy Breck Bednar.
Breck was just 14 when he was raped and murdered by an 18-year-old who had groomed him via an online gaming platform.
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