Push for more dads to join online safety survey

Dads across the south of England are being urged to come forward and share their views on how their children use social media and manage screen time.

A public consultation is currently under way, inviting both adults and young people to give their opinions on a range of proposals. These include a potential social media ban for under-16s, screen-time curfews and restrictions on mobile phone use in schools.

But of the 28,000 responses received so far, fewer than a quarter have come from fathers. The government is now calling on more dads to take part in the online consultation.

Matt Foster, who runs community groups for dads, said concerns about online safety came up repeatedly.

"What we've seen at Dadzclub is that dads are really concerned about screen time," he said.

"Some of our dads have some quite harrowing stories of their children having bad experiences online and we talk about those openly."

The fathers at Dadzclub told the BBC they were concerned but had no idea the public consultation was even happening.

Their worries ranged from cyber bullying to too much screen time and inappropriate content.

Mike Motteram, from Portsmouth, said he was most worried about the relentless nature of social media.

"Those people that are giving them negative attention are there 24/7 and that's going to take its toll on anybody, especially someone who's young and developing that resilience to what people think," he said.

Minister for AI and online safety Kanishka Narayan said hearing from dads was imperative.

"Government can make policy but it is the experience of parents, of families at home, where people really learn their habits so anything we do is only effective if dads come with us on this journey," he said.

The consultation, Growing up in the Online World, can be found on the government website and closes on Tuesday.