"Disinformation and misinformation is filling our online worlds."

I think it is important to safeguard our children from the potentially negative impact this has on young minds and education.

We know the amount of disinformation and misinformation that is filling our online worlds, often originating from countries wishing to destabilise our society.

Furthermore, it seems that we continually embed the polarisation of issues such as migration and geo-politics, as the algorithms feed us different versions of reality.

Of course, this benefits the social media companies and other individuals who financially gain from the clicks. Outrage sells!

The issue is it makes us all feel more insecure and frightened, fearful of the other side of the debate and has undoubtedly created a wedge between us.

And the amount of hours we are all glued to our phone screens, these messages become constant and unavoidable. Humans were not designed to live in constant fight or flight response that these videos and messages can trigger in us.

No longer is our feeds filled with posts from our friends lists. Instead it is content we did not choose to see, but is being fed to us regardless!

I have recently decided to delete all of my own social media because I could see the impact it was having on my mental health. This is not an easy decision, as much of life is conducted through these platforms, and they do serve a positive function too.

Cllr Kirsty Law (Independent, Inverclyde East Central) (Image: George Munro)

We can be connected with friends and family living across the globe, we can see events and other interesting things happening in our areas and beyond. But it became clear that the negative aspects were overtaking the positives for me, and I made the decision to remove myself from all platforms.

Since then, I find my anxiety has decreased and I am able to get through my days not fearful of what is becoming of us.

I am glad governments are starting to take the impact this is having on our young people seriously. I have two children, aged 16 and eight, I limit any screen time the youngest has to 30 minutes a day (not every day), unless it’s a holiday.

For my son, it was different, so I have learned the hard way. The damage it has done to concentration levels and critical thinking skills cannot be denied.

It makes me sad to see lives being lived through the screen of a phone, in restaurants, at concerts, even at home.

Human connection is being hampered as people prioritise their mobile contacts over those in the same room, without even thinking about it. Let’s work together to change that!