The clever boffins at Google appear to have come up with a new way to help moms and dads worried about the amount of time their kids spend on smartphones. It's an app that allows parents to remotely lock their child's mobile device at the touch of a button. As Richard Bestic reports from the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, the Google hack is in response to an apparent worldwide concern.

Here it is depending on your viewpoint, techy heaven or the heart of the darkness. All the world's major technology companies gathered in one place and many with half on your child's mobile device.

RICHARD BESTIC BARCELONA "The industry tunes itself to an image of having fun. So, you can understand how the kids love it."

The level of 21st century fun on show at the World Mobile Congress is extraordinary Virtual reality giving us a front row seat to a land of dreams. But even here among the world's leading tech executives, there are concerns that technology is turning our world upside down.

"I think it's less about the phones, but I think it's more about the social networks and the content that they become absolutely addicted to."

"Like anything, I think everything moderation, so for me it's about parents being responsible and the children have access to technology but not getting carried away."

"Companies should develop a way that you can control the number of hours that the mobile is on and then switch off."

So, Google's idea of a parental off switch should be music to the ears of moms and dads. Because it appears to be a global concern. In the United States, nearly half the country's parents are worried their child's addicted to a mobile, according to a survey by Common Sense Media, an organization promoting safe technology. It's a similar picture in Asia and Europe, begging the question: Is it the device itself? Nokia even makes a phone looking like a banana, although they don't claim it's aimed at the youth market.

RICHARD BESTIC BARCELONA "The modern mobile device, this is the new Samsung S9 is a very attractive little thing, glossy. You can see why it may be intriguing to little fingers."

It remains the ultimate parental paradox the mobile's an essential tool, but when do you say that's enough. There are few answers even here at technology's ground zero. Richard Bestic, CGTN, at the World Mobile Congress.