Ms Niamh Sweeney:

I will address each of the issues the Deputy raised in order. There is not a huge amount of research on the well-being front. We recently commissioned some in the UK through a think tank called Demos. One of the main findings coming out of that research and other research is that it is less about the amount of time than about what is done with that time. Passive scrolling of content can be damaging in some cases whereas meaningful interactions can actually boost a sense of well-being. There is, however, a dearth of research in the area and we are trying to address that. It can be seen that Instagram in particular has a very strong focus on well-being. It has a whole section dedicated to it. It has introduced certain tools to help one limit one's screen time and to keep track of what one is doing. Apple has a report which one might see flash up on one's phone if one uses an iPhone. This report gives one a sense of how many notifications and how much screen time on average one has had per day. Facebook is also looking to roll out tools based on time spent online and well-being. I had thought that they would be rolled out by now. We are waiting for confirmation of when that will happen but it is something we are thinking about.

I must admit that I do not know which European Parliament report the Deputy was referring to.