In his TV review (Gareth Southgate: Changing the Game for Young Men review – boys are crying out for help like this, 8 June), Jack Seale astutely writes: “Every problem it identifies is the result of a big political choice, which Southgate ignores before offering a small-scale solution. It’s certainly well-meant, but its limitations are frustrating.”
Gareth Southgate’s commitment to the issue is admirable and entirely convincing. However, the fact that more boys own smartphones than live with their fathers – one of the statistics cited in Southgate’s documentary, which also featured in his Richard Dimbleby lecture last year – tell us remarkably little about either. Smartphones are close to ubiquitous among young people, while the reasons fathers may not reside with their children are complex and varied. Such comparisons reveal more about patterns of technology ownership than they do about the realities of fatherhood.
