Smart phones are ubiquitous in everyday life and are having a major impact on work, education, social relationships and modes of communication. Children are the fastest growing population of smart phone users, with use often focusing around internet access e.g. 1 in 3 internet users in the UK are under 18 years of age. Despite their widespread use, relatively little is known about the factors that underpin children’s use. The home is a significant ecological context of development and recent research has highlighted the importance of the home environment in promoting and supporting the development of both safe and unsafe online behaviour. Yet the importance of these influences currently remains relatively unrecognised. Therefore, in this paper we present a narrative review of evidence examining parental practices concerning digital communication technologies and applications, with a particular focus on smartphones, and how they relate to the use of technology by their children. Emerging evidence to date indicates that two important factors are at play. Firstly, parental technology use is closely related to that of their child. Secondly, that despite parents frequently-voiced concerns about the nature and extent of their child’s mobile phone use, parents themselves often engage in a number of unsafe internet behaviours and excessive phone use in the home environment. Our review identifies two crucial lines of enquiry that have yet to be comprehensively pursued by researchers in the field: firstly, the adoption of a psychological perspective on children’s emergent behaviours with mobile devices and secondly, the influential role of context. Given parental concerns about the possible negative impact of technologies, parental awareness should be raised about the influence of their behaviour in the context of internet safety along with the adoption of good digital literacy practices. It is anticipated that a comprehensive characterisation of the associated contextual factors influencing smartphone use will serve as a catalyst for debate, discussion and future research.

People with an intellectual disability experience high levels of social exclusion and a range of health inequalities. Increased inclusion and participation in healthcare decision making have been identified as key to promoting inclusion in health and social care. However, achieving these objectives requires increased recognition of the communication and health literacy needs of individuals with an intellectual disability and consideration of the appropriateness of the information currently provided. In this article, we report the results of a pre-COVID-19 qualitative study exploring the provision and use of accessible information to support the healthcare inclusion of individuals with an intellectual disability. A total of 35 clinicians participated in focus group discussions, and 10 people with intellectual disabilities and 10 carers were interviewed regarding their experiences of using accessible health-related information. Qualitative data analysis using a framework approach highlighted the crucial role of communication partners when using accessible information, deficits in current National Health Service (NHS: UK’s publicly funded health care system) information provision in the UK, and possible broader relevance of accessible resources. The implications of these findings for the provision of accessible information in a post-COVID-19 environment are explored, and recommendations are made for the increased integration and theory-driven research to inform the provision, content, and use of health-related information, especially the provision of online information, in the future.