When I was young, I was an active user of what would now be called social media. vBulletin and phpBB boards, IRC channels, LiveJournal... I made lifelong friends this way, when I get married in a few months time, two friends I met on IRC and still switch between thinking of them as their handles or "real" names will be my bridesmen.
I know modern social media is not the same as it was then, but a lot of that is down to less active moderation than you had in these smaller communities as a result of centralisation by Silicon Valley tech firms combined with algorithms and incentives that intentionally or not resemble the same rush as gambling. This does not just affect children, and a ban is the wrong answer to this problem.