• Social media as currently designed, including features such as infinite scroll and recommended algorithms, is hugely detrimental to children’s mental health
   
• ‘A ban is imperative because it will shift overall patterns of usage and act as a real support for parents who want to delay their children’s smartphone usage’

 

Thursday February 19, 2026. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said that a ban on social media for under-16s in Ireland is “imperative”, warning that social media as currently designed, including features such as infinite scroll and recommended algorithms, is hugely detrimental to children’s mental health.

Prof Matthew Sadlier, Vice-President of the IMO and Chair of its Consultants’ Committee, who is also a consultant psychiatrist, said that the IMO was not against the internet or digital competency in general.

“It is critically important for children and adolescents to become digitally competent, and to be able to access the internet in a productive and useful way. However, there is little productive or useful about social media in its current guise, which has a largely malign influence on children who use it.”

Prof Sadlier said that an outright ban on social media use for under-16s would not be without issues, but it was still preferable to the status quo.

“There will be some children who will navigate their way around a social media ban, just as there are some children who will drink alcohol before they turn 18. But overall, a ban is imperative because it will shift overall patterns of usage and act as a real support for parents who want to delay their children’s smartphone usage.”

He noted that the IMO had been calling for tighter regulation of social media use among children for almost a decade.

“The current business model of social media companies, with an overarching focus on advertising profits, is highly problematic when children are using the platforms. Our children are not commodities and must be protected from targeted and at times extremely harmful content.”