Colman Noctor: Protecting children from the influence of the influencer

Some 84% of pre-teens in Ireland use at least one social media or messaging service such as Snapchat or TikTok

'We must address the trend toward passive viewing habits among young people, and we need to bolster their ability to critique and regulate their own usage.' Picture: iStock 

Colman Noctor

CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPIST

'Dad, did you know a banana is a berry?' This was one of the more recent facts my seven-year-old shared with me recently. He often shares these random pieces of information picked up from YouTube Kids. While it turns out a banana by definition is indeed a berry, there have been some other 'facts' he has shared that are more dubious. However, because of his age, his capacity to critique this information is limited. He takes most things he hears as gospel, especially from his 12-year-old brother, who told him there were great white sharks off the coast in Wexford when we visited a few weeks ago.