Fianna Fáil’s recent anti-phone and anti-social media strategies are like “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted”, according to Zara King. 

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told The Sunday Times today he is in favour of banning social media for people under the age of 16. 

This comes after Education Minister Norma Foley has announced she is working on plans to ban mobile phones in secondary school. 

Virgin Media News reporter Zara King said it appears Fianna Fáil have a plan to “put a halt to social media usage”. 

“I just don't know how successful it's going to be,” she told The Anton Savage Show. 

“It's interesting, I did a story recently on this, and I spoke to children in primary school about how they felt about having their phones. 

“One little girl said to me that she finds it really stressful to actually have the phone, that actually she's asking her mom all the time to check it. 

“She said she has to have [a phone] because all [her] friends in the class have it and they come in and they tell [her] all the things they've seen on TikTok. 

“But then in the same breath, she lives in fear of that idea of stranger danger, that idea of somebody reaching out to her and how will she handle it if it happens.” 

Fianna Fáil ban smart phones

Zara said a lot of kids might appreciate a ban on phones and social media to relieve some of this stress – but it might be too late to have an actual impact. 

“I think when you look at the situation for kids in schools, ultimately it seems a little bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted,” she said. 

“I was in school like 20 years ago and there was a mobile phone ban allegedly back then as well, so I don't know how it's changed.” 

A box in a classroom filled with smartphones. Image: Lbeddoe / Alamy Stock Photo

Today FM presenter Matt Cooper said his son is still in secondary school – and many people give a phone to the school while keeping the real one. 

“They've got burner phones, effectively,” he said. 

Zara said 20 years ago, her friends were doing the exact same thing. 

Minister Donnelly compared the damage caused by social media companies to that of smoking. 

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