Irish Examiner view: Legal complexity cannot mean inaction

Social media may not poison lungs or livers, but mounting evidence suggests it can profoundly affect mental health, self-esteem, and emotional development

Society sets boundaries not because compliance will be universal, but because protections matter. Which raises an obvious question: If the State is not willing to enforce even a basic under-16 social media ban, what exactly is the alternative?  File picture 

For months now, Ireland has been circling the same anxious conversation: Should we ban under-16s from social media? The political appetite is certainly there. The public mood too.

Parents, teachers, and clinicians all point to the same troubling evidence — rising anxiety, compulsive screen use, online bullying, sleep deprivation, algorithmic manipulation. Few now seriously argue that social media is harmless for children. Even the platforms themselves have largely stopped pretending.