Cork teens delete social media from phones in experiment and cut screen time

Five teenagers from Durrus in West Cork deleted social media apps from their phone for a week as part of a fascinating social experiment.

Sean O’Brien, Abbie Arundel, Daniel O’Sullivan, Michaela Nicholas, and Mary Ellis, members of their local Foróige youth club, deleted the social media apps covered by Australia’s proposed under-16s ban: TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Reddit, X, YouTube, Kik, and Twitch.

The teens appeared on an RTÉ’s Prime Time programme on Wednesday night, where they said they use social media to feel connected to their friends.

However, they recognised that the apps can be addictive due to features encouraging people to use them more.

Mary said she caved and redownloaded Snapchat on day three of the experiment, prior to attending a Foróige ball, to see who was going.

Video diaries

In video diaries they kept during the week, Daniel said he was “missing texting my friends”.

Meanwhile, Sean said he “probably felt a bit disconnected to my friends at times”.

Prior to starting the experiment, Prime Time took note of each teenager’s screen time data.

It then compared this data to their screen times once they had redownloaded the apps.

Michaela cut her screen time from six hours and five minutes to two hours and five minutes, a reduction of four hours.

Sean went from two hours and 27 minutes to just 48 minutes. Abbie reduced her usage from three hours and 12 minutes to one hour and seven minutes.

Daniel dropped from two hours and 53 minutes to one hour and 25 minutes, but said he spent more time gaming.

Mary saw a smaller, but still significant, fall from four hours and 46 minutes to three hours and 11 minutes.

Social media ban

The volunteers admitted that they could understand why parents or governments might consider a social media ban.

Abbie said it would help ensure “kids don’t have access to videos or stuff that’s not for them and not age-appropriate”, while Mary said a ban would be a good idea for people under 12.

Michaela said the ban would be almost impossible to enforce.

“They will get around it, though, because there’s NordVPN or just lie about their age,” she said.

Sean said that if there was “face verification or something, they’d get their older sibling to do it for them.”

Daniel added: “I don’t think it’ll ever work. People will always find ways to get around. You can change your age quite easily.”