Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I indicated, I very much appreciate the time that was put into producing today's opening remarks and the visual presentation by Comhairle na nÓg, which is always helpful in this relatively fast-paced environment. Taking into account all that the witnesses have said, improving the educational level and awareness is key to this issue. In particular, parents need to be better informed as to what is going on because the witnesses have been familiar with social media from a relatively young age. I have a six year old and a four year old whose online activity is limited to a highly supervised 30 minutes on the children's version of YouTube but they know how to unlock phones and probably also know the settings. The prevalence of screen time is quite alarming. A considerable research has shown how negative screen time can be in terms of the physical manifestation of being glued to a phone six inches from one's face, which cannot be good for a person, rather than the content or social aspect thereof. That said, there are many positive applications for social media, as referenced in the witnesses' contributions. There are several ways we could enhance the experience of younger and older people in terms of social media if there were proper broadband in certain communities around the country, which is currently a very topical issue. If proper broadband were available, issues such as rural isolation could be addressed through social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Skype and so on. That access is taken for granted in urban environments because we have decent broadband and mobile phone coverage but in many places that is not available. It would be welcome for people in rural communities to be able to use social media to the best of its intended use.

Mobile phones were recently completely banned from schools in France, rather than just during class time, when one is not supposed to use them anyway. A student may not bring a mobile phone to school unless he or she is over 14 and even then, while one is allowed to have it in one's possession, it may not be turned on.

What are Ms Devereux's or Ms Seacy's views on this? What would they make of somebody telling a person that they cannot even have a phone in their bag?