Motion on social media passes thanks to Carndonagh students - Donegal News

A MOTION on age restrictions for social media was passed by Donegal County Council thanks to Carndonagh Community School students.

A MOTION on age restrictions for social media was passed by Donegal County Council thanks to Carndonagh Community School students.

The 5th Year Politics and Society students, along with teachers Damien Duffy and Marie Lafferty, were present at the council chamber in Lifford yesterday.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Martin McDermott presented the motion at the plenary meeting on behalf of students.

They called on the council to write to Minister for Children, Norma Foley, with their concerns about mobile phone usage among children and teenagers and whether the age limit for social media should be increased to 15.

“To be fair to the students, it’s a very important issue and a very important project that they’ve taken on,” said Cllr McDermott.

“Particularly in today’s society, to discuss and to bring out to the open the use of social media to children under the age of 15.”

He said the students had written to Inishowen councillors and then had a meeting on the issue of social media usage, which is the focus of their class project.

“They would really like to have a conversation with the Minister on this, and show the Minister the work and the time and the effort they’ve put into trying to actually look at what is the best for children in this day and age with mobile phones,” said Cllr McDermott.

He said the students’ research highlighted how young people can be easily targeted through social media.

However, Cllr McDermott added that access to social media and search engines have become “vitally important” in young people’s lives.

In response, Chief Executive, John McLaughlin said: “We’re not going to chat about it, we’re going to do something about it.”

He suggested incorporating student feedback to the letter before sending it to the Minister.

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