Social media can be damaging, especially to young people. That’s no secret, but what to do about it remains a mystery.

Ohio lawmakers are tossing around the idea of banning social media and the use of electronic devices during class, according to a report by News 5 Cleveland.

House Bill 485, sponsored by state Reps. Tom Young, R-Washington Township, and Phil Plummer, R-Dayton, would amend state code “regarding a school internet safety policy and instruction on the effects of social media in public schools.”

News 5 Cleveland reports Young would like the change to emulate what is being done in Parma.

Parma City Schools prohibits cellphone use in all academic settings, but allows it in common areas such as hallways and cafeterias. The news station reports Superintendent Charles Smialek said the district also has a health course about the negative impacts of social media.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But Smialek is right to be worried a one-size-fits-all, state-mandated approach might not be the way to go.

“You want to be able to make your own decisions and you want your professionals to be able to interact with their students and with their colleagues because, quite frankly, they’re the folks doing the work and they know best about the work,” Smialek told News 5 Cleveland.

Ohioans know Gov. Mike DeWine would support prohibiting student cellphone use during the school day.

“When you talk to teachers in schools that have removed phones during the lunch period, they will tell you the change is miraculous. The lunchroom is noisy again. Instead of having their heads down, buried in their phones, kids are talking and interacting and laughing and enjoying themselves,” DeWine said during his State of the State speech earlier this month.

But Young is correct to consider building a lot of local flexibility into the bill. It’s a good idea, and most schools will no doubt welcome being able to make work for them. But the key is to avoid making it do more harm than good with yet another effort from Columbus to eliminate local control.