Social media use 'an increasing concern' for parents, says helpline

Tue, 27 Jan, 2026 - 17:31

Neil Michael

Social media use has driven a surge in calls to the national parent support helpline and is "an increasing concern" for parents.

Calls to Parentline about social media use more than doubled last year, up from 1.8% in 2024 to 3.5% of calls. Chief executive Aileen Hickie said it is “an increasing concern” for parents.

“More parents than ever are concerned about the negative impact on their children’s mental health caused by social media use,” said Ms Hickie.

“Parents worry about cyberbullying, exposure to harmful or inappropriate content, oversharing, online grooming, anxiety and excessive screen time.”

She said the State needs to enforce the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, which gives the online safety regulator Coimisiún na Meán the power to impose fines up to €20m against social media platforms.

“Social media platforms have to be forced to take some responsibility for putting in place proper protections to prevent children accessing harmful material," said Ms Hickie.

We have trusted them to mind the online safety of our children and it has not worked. Self-regulation is simply not good enough. It is like asking the fox to mind the hen house.

“More needs to be done to keep our children safe online. We can’t continue to allow children to have unregulated access to social media platforms.”

She added: “It is crucial for parents to teach their children about online safety, including privacy, cyberbullying, and stranger danger. If a child has access to the internet, then the internet also has access to them.”

Ms Hickie was speaking in advance of the annual report on Parentline’s work in 2025, which is set to be another record year with a 9% increase in calls.

Parentline took 7,020 calls in 2025 — the highest since it was established 44 years ago — compared to 6,461 in 2024. Of those calls, anger and aggression was “the standout issue”, accounting for 3,000 calls (43% compared to 35% in 2024).

There were more than 1,000 calls on anxiety (15%), while concerns around school avoidance increased to 9% of calls

Anger and aggression

Ms Hickie said: “Calls from parents referencing anger and aggression continue to dominate the helplines. Parents are concerned about verbal abuse, physical abuse, violence, or controlling behaviours.

“All of these issues are covered by the general term of child-to-parent violence. This is where the parent is left in fear of their own child in their own home because of the behaviours being directed at them.”

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Ms Hickie added: “This is the unspoken side of domestic violence. Domestic violence is often thought about as being only partner-to-partner abuse, but it is any violence or abuse that takes place in a domestic setting.

“Child-to-parent violence is another form of domestic violence. It leaves parents feeling ashamed, powerless, and alone.”