Education

Doctors urge ban on ‘destructive’ smartphone use by children under age of 16

Government should declare smartphone and social media use by the young as public health emergency, says Irish Medical Organisation

The Irish Medical Organisation argues that 'research shows the overwhelmingly destructive effect that smartphone usage has on children and adolescents in particular'. Photograph: Getty Images
The Irish Medical Organisation argues that 'research shows the overwhelmingly destructive effect that smartphone usage has on children and adolescents in particular'. Photograph: Getty Images
Martin Wall
Wed Aug 28 2024 - 06:00

Doctors are seeking the Government to ban mobile phone use for all children under the age of 16.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said that smartphones and the social media content accessible on them are “overwhelmingly destructive” to children.

The doctors’ trade union in a statement on Tuesday backed calls by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly for smartphone use to be prohibited for children and adolescents and also supported the proposal by Minister for Education Norma Foley for a ban on mobile phones in schools.

The IMO urged the Government to treat smartphone and social media usage “as a public health emergency”.

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“Our young people are exposed to a toxic mix of both extraordinarily harmful content and social media platforms that use features such as infinite scroll to promote more user activity, creating a vicious circle of use,” said the organisation.

IMO chairman of the consultants’ committee Prof Matthew Sadlier said doctors had long highlighted the dangers of smartphones and social media.

“Research shows the overwhelmingly destructive effect that smartphone usage has on children and adolescents in particular, and as a society, it is imperative that we urgently address a crisis that has dire ramifications on their mental and physical health,” he said.

[ Children’s access to smartphones: ‘many sleep with them under their pillows’ ]

Prof Sadlier said that every indicator of mental health and psychological wellbeing among teenagers and young adults had become more negative since 2012 when social media became widely used.

He said it was not too late to impose such a ban on mobile phone use for children.

He said Ireland had experienced great success in reducing tobacco use after big public health campaigns in the past.

“It is time to get serious with smartphone makers and social media companies; for 15 years our young people have been exposed to a toxic mix of both extraordinarily harmful content and social media platforms that use features such as infinite scroll to promote more user activity, creating a vicious circle of use which ultimately leads to higher levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness and suicidal tendencies,” he said.

[ Almost a quarter of six year olds have their own smartphone, survey finds ]

Prof Sadlier said State support was important to help parents impose this prohibition on smartphones.

“It is not enough to ask parents to shoulder this responsibility alone; the Government can and must intervene in order to level the playing field for all young people,” he said.

The IMO said that at its annual general meeting last April, members had voted in favour of several motions calling for curbs on smartphone and social media usage.

It said that among the motions passed was a call for the Government, in light of a bipartisan case taken by 42 US attorneys general against Meta for its product’s detrimental effect upon youth mental health, to investigate urgently the allegations and publish opinion on whether a similar case should be taken in Ireland.

Martin Wall

Martin Wall

Martin Wall is the former Washington Correspondent of The Irish Times. He was previously industry correspondent

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