{"id":391350,"date":"2026-03-18T11:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/391350\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:41:22","slug":"lauren-silverman-reveals-why-she-backtracked-on-her-strict-phone-rules-with-son-eric-12-as-she-confesses-simon-cowell-hasnt-owned-a-mobile-for-eight-years-parenting-in-the-current-world-is-overwh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/391350\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Silverman reveals why she backtracked on her strict phone rules with son Eric, 12, as she confesses Simon Cowell hasn’t owned a mobile for EIGHT years: ‘Parenting in the current world is overwhelming’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lauren Silverman<\/a> has revealed why she backtracked on her strict phone rules with her son Eric, 12, as she confessed Simon Cowell<\/a> hasn’t owned a mobile for eight years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mother-of-two, 48,\u00a0and Simon, 66, had been fiercely against Eric having a phone, but they had to rethink their stance after discovering he had downloaded Snapchat<\/a> – a multimedia messaging app – on Lauren’s phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taking to Instagram on Monday, Lauren wrote: ‘For a long time Simon and I were very firm about one thing, no phone for Eric. (Simon himself hasn\u2019t had a phone for nearly 8 years!).<\/p>\n

‘But recently Eric had a very honest conversation with us about it that made us rethink our position slightly.<\/p>\n

‘He now has a phone with some very clear boundaries. The main one being, no social media. Just texting and calling friends and family.’<\/p>\n

\"Lauren <\/p>\n

Lauren Silverman has revealed why she backtracked on her strict phone rules with her son Eric, 12, as she confessed Simon Cowell hasn’t owned a mobile for eight years<\/p>\n

In a slideshow of pictures, Lauren explained further: ‘I changed my mind about my 12-year-old son having a phone…<\/p>\n

‘But I still said no to social media. Whether we like it or not, texting has become a part of childhood.<\/p>\n

‘Plans are made there. Jokes are shared there. Friendships often happen there and at some point kids start feeling like they are the only one not in the conversation.<\/p>\n

‘For a long time I was very clear, no phone.’<\/p>\n

Lauren said she\u00a0believed the longer herself and Simon could delay giving a\u00a0 smartphone to Eric, the better.<\/p>\n

But everything changed when she discovered her son had been secretly messaging his friends on Snapchat off her phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: ‘That moment really made me stop and think about what the right approach should be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Instead of turning it into a battle, we talked. What he told me was actually very simple. He didn’t care about social media. He just wanted to be able to text and call his friends.’<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She wrote: ‘For a long time Simon and I were very firm about one thing, no phone for Eric. (Simon himself hasn\u2019t had a phone for nearly 8 years!)’ (pictured together in December)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lauren <\/p>\n

Lauren went on to tell the strict rules she has in place – no phones in Eric’s bedroom, at the dinner table or during family time<\/p>\n

\"Lauren, <\/p>\n

Lauren, who had been fiercely against Eric having a phone, revealed she had to rethink her stance after discovering her son had downloaded Snapchat on her phone<\/p>\n

\"\" \"Fans <\/p>\n

Fans took to the comment section, where they applauded Lauren for her ‘clever approach’. They wrote: ‘Smart mum. You are such a role model’ and ‘bravo’<\/p>\n

Lauren said they came to a compromise where Eric could have a phone for texting and calling but isn’t allowed Snapchat or social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added: ‘The reason I am holding that boundary is because social media is a completely different worlds.<\/p>\n

‘The pressure. The comparison. The toxicity. For our family, this is something we are waiting for for now.’<\/p>\n

Lauren went on to tell the strict rules she has in place – no phones in Eric’s bedroom, at the dinner table or during family time.<\/p>\n

She concluded: ‘Technology should never replace real life.’<\/p>\n

Fans took to the comment section, where they applauded Lauren for her ‘clever approach’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They wrote: ‘Smart mum. You are such a role model’ and ‘bravo’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Simon gave up having a phone back in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, the television mogul revealed he had become so distracted and irritated by his phone that he made himself uncontactable for the sake of his mental health and happiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told The Mail on Sunday at the time: ‘I literally have not been on my phone.<\/p>\n

‘The difference it made was that I became more aware of the people around me and way more focused.<\/p>\n

‘The thing I get irritated with is when you have a meeting everyone’s on their phone \u2013 and I was probably in that place too. You can’t concentrate.<\/p>\n

‘It has been so good for my mental health. It’s a very strange experience but it really is good for you and it has absolutely made me happier.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lauren Silverman has revealed why she backtracked on her strict phone rules with her son Eric, 12, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[118,18,117,19,876,17,178675,12192,34020,438],"class_list":["post-391350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-dailymail","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-instagram","tag-ireland","tag-lauren-silverman","tag-simon-cowell","tag-snapchat","tag-tvshowbiz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116249997464784019","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}