In Primary 7, I made a Facebook account.

By my teens, I also had accounts for Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and latterly TikTok too.

Most of these profiles were public, with anyone around the world able to access my posts and photos.

And aged 15, 16 and 17, this made me feel part of the crowd.

Only now, 10 years later, do I see the damage that could’ve been done.

UK Government ban will keep kids away from ‘unrestricted warzone’ of social media

The landmark ban, planned to come into force next spring, will see under-16s banned from social media platforms across the UK.

The government says this is to “protect kids with world-leading additional restrictions on harmful features online such as live streaming and strangers communicating with children”.

When I first joined Facebook, the aim amongst my friends was to have as many friends as possible.

We’d send out friend requests to people we barely knew, and accepted requests from plenty of near strangers.

Bear in mind we were 11 or so at this time.

The gamification and seeing the numbers grow only exacerbated when........

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