Apparently parents have been giving their terminally dim kids smartphones to play with probably because their child screams if they don’t get what they want. Of course the kids tend to hold the brightly coloured screens close to their faces and damage their eyesight. But at least the parents did not have to face the huge problem of their precious little snowflake not getting what it wants.

The free app, available on Android only, runs in the background and uses facial recognition software to determine when a smartphone or tablet is held too close the eye.

When this happens, a "friendly" animation  pops up and the screen is shut down. The screen comes back on again when the device is returned to the minimum recommended safe distance, which is around 25cm but varies depending on the size of the screen being observed.
The app allows parents to set a password that can prevent children from deactivating the app.

Tarek Sabbagh, head of the IT and mobile division at Samsung Gulf Electronics said that Samsung would like to see the technology deployed on as many mobile devices as possible. It was currently looking at developing an iOS version. This is very wise as apple fanboys have a tendency to shove their phones into the faces of Android users as part of their attempts to convert them.

Safety Screen was built by Samsung engineers working in the United Arab Emirates. Samsung said the app has received 16,000 downloads across the Middle East and North Africa region since it was launched two weeks ago. The company did not have any worldwide numbers yet.