Sadly for many young people Facebook provides the perfect way for them to belittle and verbally assault each other. It’s no wonder mental health problems plague our young people today.

There’s no point being a Luddite and wishing away this marvellous innovation but there’s a strong argument to suggest it’s the cause of much anxiety in our society.

Orange police have confirmed an increasing amount of their time and resources are used to sort out disputes instigated or inflamed by Facebook usage.

Of course it’s not only young people who seek police help to resolve Facebook disputes, but they make up the majority of perpetrators and victims.

It seems many people in our community have little understanding of the law and don’t realise threats made via Facebook can have serious consequences not only for the perpetrators, but also the victims.

Where once teenagers could retreat to their bedrooms to avoid being vilified by schoolyard bullies, now those same bullies have access to their bedrooms via computers, tablets or mobile phones.

According to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg one in seven people now use Facebook so its potential to influence society, and young people in particular, continues to grow. 

All parents or carers owe it the next generation to monitor their usage of technology and educate them on the pitfalls associated with it.

As the rate of teenage suicide continues to rise it’s time we all realised more attention and resources need to be given to addressing young people’s mental heath problems, including cyber bullying and the long-term impact it can have.