Is it time to change the cultural norms around children and teenagers' smartphone use?

With a teacher union calling for stronger laws around online harassment, Catherine Conlon says the cultural norm of children being constantly online has to be tackled

Younger users are too valuable for most social media companies to limit access.

Cyberbullying was among the topics debated at the annual convention of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) this week, amid a call for stronger legislation to deal with online harassment.

A recent survey carried out by Red C, on behalf of the ASTI, showed that almost one-in-five secondary teachers have experienced some form of work-related cyberbullying. The most common forms of abuse involved receiving angry, rude and vulgar messages, as well as videos of teachers uploaded without their consent.