Parents should work to delay - rather than ban - their child's access to a smartphone, a family psychologist says.
It comes as a survey of 10,000 parents found that more than half think they should have waited longer before handing a smartphone to their child.
The HMD (Human Mobile Devices) research revealed 11 was the average age when a child received their first smartphone.
Family Psychologist Richard Hogan told The Pat Kenny Show families are facing an 'epidemic'.
"The smartphone epidemic is having the most impact on families currently," he said.
"Families don't know what to do with this - that's the reality - parents don't know what to do.
"They feel incredibly outpaced by it, they feel they don't have the information around technology".
Mr Hogan said parents are closing their eyes to the dangers.
"I think what we're witnessing is one of the greatest experiments perpetrated on adolescents ever," he said.
"We're giving our children endless internet access on smartphones and we're kind of closing our eyes and hoping this thing works out.
"We're seeing from all the data - an incredible tsunami of research - and the Surgeon General in America coming out and saying the impact this is having on boys and girls alike is devastating."
'Community response'
Mr Hogan said there are things parents can do.
"We need a community response and I think parents need to come together," he said.
"I do see there's a change and I do feel there is a movement from parents to say they're beginning to see that these thing are not suitable for a child.
"Once you say 'ban' [to a child] it provokes a lot of discourse; I would say 'delaying' is the better language here.
"Delay the smartphone as long as we can and I don't think a smartphone should be in the hands of a child in primary school.
"Children should be allowed to have their innocence and their childhood".
A child using a smartphone. Image: Aiman Dairabaeva / AlamyMr Hogan said parents protect their children from real world harms but not those online.
"We protect our children's right in real life so stringently but online every day their rights are being denied," he said.
"I think parents probably over-protect their children in real life and then let them off in the online world.
"That's something that we need to recalibrate and get the balance of that back".
He said he believes governments need to take some of the responsibility.
"We can bring in legislation here, we did it with cigarettes, and it can fall under the umbrella of EU law of course as well," he said.
"We do need our Government to stand up here because currently this age of self-regulation it is coming to an end - that's the great thing.
"I think Coimisiún na Meán's recent online digital media code was a good opening gambit move.
"It doesn't do enough, I don't think it's prescriptive enough.
"Meta and these guys were there listening to what the Coimisiún was releasing and weren't too phased by it.
"They need to be phased by it".
'There needs to be prescription'
Mr Hogan said the social media companies need to react faster.
"They're at pains to say they have enough regulators to monitor what's going on - they haven't," he said.
"If there's damaging content about Pat Kenny on the internet you should be able to get that taken down within 48 hours.
"I sit with parents whose child has been targeted or some image has been sent and it takes a long time for that to come down.
"There needs to be prescription in there".
Mr Hogan added that the schools he talks to want to be smartphone free.
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