Mr. Ian Power:

It is a timely question in light of all that is happening for young people online. The interesting thing is that there is a limited evidence base. There is emerging evidence but every new study with a questionable sample size makes headlines. It is difficult to distil what is evidence and what is subjective commentary. What we know from the good solid evidence base that what is emerging is that it is not necessarily social media but how we interact with it that is making the issue greater for children and young people. There are two tracks to it. The first is the way a person is engaging with social media. If people are passively consuming content and not engaging with friends and individuals they know or having meaningful interactions, then it negatively impacts on their mental health. Screen time is not necessarily a major indicator of poor well-being. However, it is if a person is using a device from midnight to 3 a.m. and not getting a good night's sleep, which we know is crucial for mental health.

The emerging literature suggests that a certain young people are predisposed to being more vulnerable to things like, for example, being on certain platforms and lacking the perspective that not everyone's life is perfect. Those young people would be more vulnerable eating disorders and things of that nature. It is a question of understanding that as a factor for a certain cohort and trying to build the resilience for that cohort.