Warning kids are turning to tech for answers

The Children's Commissioner will warn about young people increasingly turning to technology, saying adults must show them they will respond quicker than online chatbots.

Dame Rachel de Souza will say there is a risk of inaction and apathy among adults, as she appeared to suggest the internet and artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT could end up filling these gaps for children.

At an event in London on Thursday, she is expected to warn of a "crisis developing in childhood".

Her comments come amid a national conversation about the internet and children, prompted by Netflix drama Adolescence, and just weeks after Sir Gareth Southgate warned about the role of "manipulative and toxic influencers" online.

The former England football manager said many young men end up "searching for direction" and fill the void with a "new kind of role model who do not have their best interest at heart".

Snapshot polling of parents published earlier this week by Ipsos for the PA news agency suggested a prevalence of internet access in children's bedrooms.

Of a total of 622 parents aged 23-65 with a child or children aged between five and 16 in Great Britain, 65% of parents said their child has a computer or other screen with access to the internet that they use in their bedroom.

The proportion saying their child has a screen with internet access in their bedroom rose to 78% for parents with a child aged between 11 and 16.

Three quarters of all parents questioned said they are concerned about what their children are seeing, hearing or doing online, and 87% said they are not confident they know what content they are viewing.

More than half (55%) of schools and colleges surveyed in England by the commissioner's office said they were concerned about online safety.

The survey of around 19,000 schools and colleges - which her office said represents almost 90% of those in England - also suggested a major concern (for 71% of respondents) is access to children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), while 46% were worried about the impact of poverty.

Dame Rachel will address her inaugural Festival Of Childhood: Our Future, Our Voice alongside Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.

Dame Rachel is expected to say children "want to be listened to" and heard.

She will add: "But some of these foundations of childhood are cracking. A different version of childhood is playing out - one that we are struggling to be honest about. A crisis developing in childhood.

"There is a risk of inaction, of apathy - and the antidote to this is listening. Connecting. That is why we must listen to children, to engage them on the decisions about their lives."

She will warn that childhood must not be conflated with adulthood "because to do so abdicates us of our responsibility to making sure every child has all the things they should always have, and no child experiences the things they never should".

She will add: "If we want children to experience the vivid technicolour of life, the joy of childhood, the innocence of youth, we have to prove that we will respond more quickly to them than Chat GPT."

Ms Phillipson said she had pledged on entering office that this would be a "child-centred government".

She added: "This is exactly what we are delivering: better life chances for every child, wherever they live and whatever their background, putting their best interests at the heart of everything we do."

On Thursday, Dame Rachel is also expected to set out her focus areas for the next 12 months, including access to children's mental health services, children's trust in the police, harms cause by "deepfake" technology, and the use of mobile phone policies in schools.

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