Mr Schmidt was head of Google when the company bought Android, the company which now makes the most-used mobile phone operating system in the world. He now supports initiatives to keep phones out of schools. "I'm one of the people who did not understand, and I'll take responsibility that the world does not work perfectly the way us tech people think it is," he said. "The situation with children is particularly disturbing to me." "I think smartphones with a kid can be safe," he said, "they just need to be moderated... we can all agree that children should be protected from the bad of the online world." On social media - where he has supported proposals for a ban on children under 16 - he added: "Why would we run such a large, uncontrolled experiment on the most important people in the world, which is the next generation?"