Children and their mobiles: psychologists' views on a modern obsession

Psychologists discuss how parents and teachers can limit the impact of smartphones on young people's wellbeing and learning

Teaching talk turned to smartphones this week, with the announcement of a new government study into the impact of mobile devices on behaviour and the news that a fifth of secondary school pupils are using social media in the middle of the night, with predictable consequences for sleep quality and concentration at school.

The majority of teachers did not grow up in the digital era. That's not to say that behaviour and bedtimes were trouble-free before smartphones - hands up if you ever got told off for reading under the duvet with a torch - but it does mean they're facing an unfamiliar issue. We spoke to educational psychologists to get their ideas and advice on the way to approach this 21st-century problem.