Social media abusers consumed by anger

I think Colette Browne is a bit complacent when she says that the anonymous and unregulated aspects of the role of social media in public debate, and the consequent existence of social media abusers, is confined to ‘a small cohort of offensive boneheads’ and is an issue of no importance (Opinion, Jan 2).

Far too many posters on discussion sites are emotionally disturbed. They are self-obsessed, self-absorbed people consumed by anger.

The repetition by a significant section of the population, day in day out, of hatred and contempt for fellow human beings and specifically for the members of all of our, admittedly imperfect, political, commercial and financial institutions, is a matter for concern. That raises the controversial problem, dismissed by Colette Browne, of how much, if any, State regulation is appropriate in the operation of social media and, because it is anonymous, how different it will be to that in existence for conventional media.