Should social media be banned?

We might also opt for video commercials depicting the potential negative impacts of social media, which must be included on users' home pages.

Governments certainly need to insist upon proof-of-age on social media accounts. We do this with credit card application and travel booking sites, why not social media?

Requiring proof of identity might help also be useful, especially in reducing the terribly high incidence of online trolling and bullying. Anonymity encourages social disinhibition - people feel free to insult others online in ways they wouldn't dream of doing face-to-face.

Recently, Facebook was accused of blocking a British-built app that monitors political interference on Facebook's platform and its impact on elections. Apparently, some social media groups are happy to practice censorship or editorialising when it suits their interests.

Yet when it comes to protecting young people, some refuse to (as they see it) "interfere" with the activities of private users. When the mental health of young people is at stake they say, "We're just a platform, we have no responsibility for content."

This is a blatant double standard which only governments have the power to challenge.

If social media groups want to act like the publishers and news curators of our time, they must accept the concomitant social responsibility.

Some would like us to believe that they're still just maverick organisations, a part of the wild west of the internet. But these groups are now multi-national corporations. They rake in huge profits from advertising and selling our data and often paying comparatively little tax.

Social media companies also pay expensive lobbyists to argue their case to governments. They should not be able to behave as if they are the put-upon "little guys", standing for freedom of expression, against greedy or ignorant governments.

Some of them will clearly not, of their own accord, accept responsibility for the social impacts of their sites. Outside regulation is a must.

New laws are not the only answer, though. There are huge opportunities here for educators.

Individual schools sometimes include social media training in their curricula, but - in the British context at least - a more linked-up approach is needed, from the earliest years in school. Concerned teachers and administrators can help bring pressure for change - as can parents.