Kirstie Allsopp: 'Instagram makes me feel sad, inadequate'
Kirstie Allsopp has said photo sharing app Instagram leaves her feeling ‘sad’ and ‘inadequate.’ The Location, Location, Location host admitted on Twitter that despite considering herself a ‘pretty successful adult,’ Instagram often left her feeling far from this.
Allsopp shared with her 403k followers: “Instagram makes me feel sad, inadequate, or left out more often than it cheers me up.
“I’m a pretty successful adult, so how much worse is it for kids? It’s so hard to hold out against a 12-year-old longing for a smart phone, but I’m sticking with it.”
She went on to argue that parents have a responsibility to keep their children off the popular app, especially considering the app is only designed for those aged thirteen and over.
“I understand this to a degree, but Instagram sets its minimum age at 13. It was never designed for use by anyone younger than that, and we can’t expect them to protect our kids if we have allowed them to lie to access the site,” she wrote.
Instagram makes me feel sad, inadequate, or left out more often than it cheers me up and I’m a pretty successful adult, so how much worse is it for kids? It’s so hard to hold out against a 12 year old longing for a smart phone, but I’m sticking with it. https://t.co/5zYcA6pp9Y
— Kirstie Allsopp (@KirstieMAllsopp) February 3, 2019
Her original post was in response to a tweet by education & families editor of the Sunday Times Sian Griffith, who was promoting her story on the potential link between teen suicide and social media pressures.
Many users praised and agreed with Allsopp’s admittances. One wrote: ‘Good for you. I won’t let my 12 year old have any social media. He doesn’t need it. It’s good to see him outside playing football or riding his bike.’
Another claimed: ‘I completely agree Kirstie! Closed my Facebook account as I constantly felt inadequate. As a teacher I see the issues created by social media on a daily basis. We are raising a generation who will struggle with mental health issues.’
However, not everyone were in support of Allsopp’s banning of her sons Bay Atlas, 12, and Oscar Hercules, 10, from using the social media platform.
One user argued that her children may feel isolated without access to it: ‘Kids will feel isolated if they don’t have some social media.but that’s life nowadays. A lot of it is silly kids chat.’
Another advised Allsopp to simply educated her children about internet safety than ban Instagram all together: ‘Use the time to educate your child how to use social media safely & with perspective: it’s a part of their world we can’t deter forever x.’
This isn’t the first time Allsopp has come to blows with technology and confessing to strict parenting techniques. Back in September of last year she admitted to smashing her children’s iPads after they used them outside of ‘their allotted time.’ She received such negative feedback online for her action that she temporarily deleted her Twitter account.
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