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Jeremy Vine struggles to have 'direct' conversations with his teenage daughters

Jeremy Vine reveals he struggles to have direct conversations with his teenage daughters  - Heathcliff O'Malley
Jeremy Vine reveals he struggles to have direct conversations with his teenage daughters - Heathcliff O'Malley

Jeremy Vine has revealed he can only speak to his teenage daughters if he's driving, because addressing them directly is a "no-no".

The TV broadcaster explained if he tries to have a face-to-face conversation with his two daughters, aged 12 and 15, it is like a “complete invasion of their air space”.

“But if you’re both sitting in the car staring forwards, that’s OK,” Mr Vine explained during an interview with The Mail on Sunday. 

When other distractions, such as mobile phones are removed, he can have real conversations with his children.

“Walking by the river with them is joyful. Then you can have a conversation,” he said.

Mr Vine, who hosts the Channel 5 current affairs show, Jeremy Vine, which relies on audience interaction through social media, described online platforms as “a massive brain experiment” being carried out on children.

Referring to his own teenagers’ use of social media, Mr Vine said: “It’s scary. Their sheer number of hours on screen is my chief worry. But also: What are they doing?

“I can’t bring myself to insert spy technology to check every key stroke. So I’m trusting them.”

The broadcaster hosts a current affairs talk show on Channel 5 called, Jeremy Vine, after taking over from The Wright Stuff. - Credit: Channel 5/PA
The broadcaster hosts a current affairs talk show on Channel 5 called, Jeremy Vine, after taking over from The Wright Stuff. Credit: Channel 5/PA

The 54-year-old father of two said he joined Instagram to follow his eldest daughter.

“She immediately blocked me! My youngest daughter won’t even tell me the name of her account. At the age of 12, I don’t know whether she should be on it,” he said.

Addressing his concerns about social media in general he added: “There’s something in all of us, a spitefulness that’s unleashed when people are cloaked with anonymity, which is a desire to see others feel pain. It’s quite dispiriting.”

Despite interviewing celebrities and politicians on a daily basis, and addressing his audience of thousands, Mr Vine is still trying to find alternative ways of speaking to his teenagers.

“You have to develop an interest with each of them,” he said.

“I took my youngest one to see Bohemian Rhapsody the other day, and she came back and learnt the first minute of the song on the piano.”