OUR internet was down for most of the weekend, here in the wifi cold spot that seems to be Askam. On the downside, it meant my husband couldn't sort out a birthday present for his son in Mayalsia but on the upside it meant a weekend largely free of smartphone-based interruptions. No WhatsApp messages pinging every few minutes, no emails and, best of all, no Facebook.

I'm a very low level of user of Facebook - I post virtually nothing but I do like to see what other people are up to from time to time. I think the technical term for social media users such as myself is "stalker".

Data harvesting issues and ethics aside, I find Facebook both hilarious and horrifying in equal measures; and I'm firmly in the camp of those who believe the social media platform's influence is on the wane. One of the reasons for this is that Facebook (and I know it's by no means alone in this) far too often provides a platform for rude behaviour and borderline bullying.

A local memories page has recently had an issue with both of the above, with one contributor being picked on for posting "boring" pictures of his home town. They weren't boring; but instead of scrolling past them if they didn't find them interesting, a vociferous few took it upon themselves effectively to hound the chap off the site. How utterly charming.

The chap in question was understandably very upset - he had thought he was brightening people's day with some pleasant photos of the local environs; instead, he got a load of grief for his troubles.

On the same site, a recent discussion swiftly degenerated into personal abuse about people in the town - a thread which was removed by the administrators after complaints.

The policing of Facebook is becoming more and more necessary, unfortunately, as social media users' behaviour continues to sink to standards which would shame some school bullies.

As our use of social media increases, our disconnect with what's appropriate seems to become ever greater; and shouty, sweary, bullying and abusive behaviour abounds.

With parents all too often throwing in the towel about what their children are up to on social media (or remaining in blissful ignorance about what their offspring are posting on Instagram and the like), maybe it's time our schools stepped in. Citizenship classes are, I believe, part of the national curriculum; and it would be no bad thing to include standards of social media behaviour as part of that citizenship training.

I fear that little can be done to improve the levels of literacy displayed on social media - my current personal favourites are "discusting" and "oright" (as in "the chips were oright but the pizza was discusting"); but surely our youngsters can be taught how to behave courteously on social media.

All of which, sadly, is too late to re-educate the bullies who drive harmless people away from social media sites. The majority of them are old enough to know better. What a shame so many of them insist on behaving like feral children.