You might have already heard about the backlash following the new Online Safety Act (2025) being rolled out by the UK government, but to get you up to speed, it essentially involves a huge blanket of censorship online and requires websites, search engines, and social media platforms to protect children by removing any illegal content.
While this sounds very reasonable in theory (and I'm all for keeping children safe), critics aren't happy that perfectly legal content is getting caught in the crossfire, and any type of mature content is being age-gated, meaning users will need to supply ID to obtain access.
Concerns over infringing on free speech have also been raised by X's owner, Elon Musk, but regardless of where you stand on the matter, one thing still remains up in the air – is it truly safe for children to have smartphones in 2025?
I think the Bark Phone could be the only real solution (besides not letting your kid have a smartphone at all, obviously), as it offers an all-in-one parental control solution with AI-managed danger alerts, content monitoring, screen time tracking, and even location updates, all housed within a sleek budget Samsung phone (the A16).
It's not just the internet to fear, either, and a Bark phone, unlike some of the best camera phones out there, can alert parents to any potential risks of bullying or self-harm detected via social media monitoring, and can prevent children from being groomed via messaging apps.
I think this is excellent, and allows parents the opportunity to get hands-on in parenting their kids when it comes to tech, instead of relying on the internet to safeguard their children for them (which can be near-impossible as things slip through content filters).
The Samsung A16 was released only last year, and the Bark Phone Pro model is a Samsung A36. Both are solid handsets with suitable performance, especially for kids, offering durable quality without any of the pricey flagship design qualities.
A recent study found that three in four UK parents are concerned about what their children are seeing on their phones, yet, there's already a petition calling for the repeal of the UK Online Safety Act. It's impossible to keep everyone happy.
By using Bark products - there's a phone, watch, app, and internet filter package - Parents can take matters into their own hands and rest easy knowing their child is protected from the internet.
