Actress Jennifer Garner opened up about keeping her children off of social media.
On Tuesday, Garner, 50, appeared on the “Today” show and spoke about how she handled that talk with her children.
“I just said to my kids, ‘Show me the articles that prove that social media is good for teenagers, and then we’ll have the conversation,'” Garner told co-hosts, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. “Find scientific evidence that matches what I have that says that it’s not good for teenagers, then we’ll chat.”
However, the mom of three said her oldest daughter, Violet, was appreciative of the restriction.
“My eldest is grateful,” Garner said. “It’s a long haul. I have a couple more to go, so just knock on wood.”
She added, “We’ll see if I really hang in there.”
According to MayoClinic.org, social media can impact teenagers negatively by “distracting them, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, unrealistic views of other people’s lives and peer pressure.”
Jessica Holzbauer, a licensed clinical social worker at Huntsman Mental Health Institute, revealed that “social media can have negative consequences for our mental health.”
“The younger generation grew up with social media and the ability to see anything, anytime, anywhere. Our ability to tolerate the distress of waiting has been eroded because we can Google the answer to almost any question. We no longer have to wait to know who was the actor that played Ron Burgundy in Anchorman or where to find the nearest library,” Holzbauer explained, per the Health University of Utah.
Garner, who played the stepmother to a teenager in the limited series “The Last Thing He Told Me,” which will air on April 14, got candid about being a mother to teenagers herself.
“I’m familiar. My teens are pretty great, so I can’t really toss them in there. It’s a different scenario, different friction, but I am familiar with being deeply embarrassing, yes,” she said.