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.

@laser The people driving the ban are so far up the US techbros arses they get their head wet when the techbro cleans his teeth.

We talk about how the water (sorry the sewage) industry has captured UK regulators but the US techbros have basically captured the UK "labour" party.