A mother of three has said that she regrets getting her children so young because of the harmful content they have seen. 

Avril Sheehan is a mother of three, with one teenager and two in primary school.  

 “The two girls have phones and they were given the phones at an earlier age than most of their classmates,” she told Lunchtime Live. 

“Just for the fact of safety and me being able to contact them because I work from work but I’m out of the home, if that makes sense. 

“So, I needed to be able to contact them.” 

Parents and their teenage son. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Despite her good intentions, Ms Sheehan added that she “absolutely” regrets the decision. 

“I just think they were exposed to so [much] harmful content and people were contacting them,” she said. 

“What I didn’t realise at the time was that they go on the PlayStation and they can communicate through the PlayStation.” 

Also on the programme, CyberSafeKids spokesperson Philip Arneill said it is “great to see” how much attention the issue is getting. 

“There’s an alternative to smartphones,” he advised. 

“You don’t have to go fully fledged to the latest iPhone or the latest android device. 

“There’s guidelines around the kind of norms that you can establish within the house and also outside the house - in terms of what’s allowed.”

Main image: Children with a phone. Picture by: Alamy.com.