Featured Image Credit: Today/NBC. Gary Miller/WireImage
Topics: Matthew McConaughey, Social Media, Parenting
Stewart Perrie
Topics: Matthew McConaughey, Social Media, Parenting
Matthew McConaughey has been praised by parents after revealing he and his wife Camila banned their eldest son from having social media until he was 15.
It sounds almost impossible to prevent your kids from signing up to TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or whatever else these days.
Children can usually get an account if they're over the age of 13 and plenty of them will have it way before that.
However, several big-name celebrities have spoken out about why it is important to stay off the apps for as long as possible.
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McConaughey said he wanted to make sure his son, Levi, knew how to use it before jumping on board.
"Oh he wanted it early on, probably when he was 12, definitely 13. Definitely 14," he explained to Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush on the Today show.
"And we waited till he was 15.
"We tried to look at the up falls and the downfalls. It's not like sending your kid off to college, but it is like sending your kids off with a bunch of strangers into the world."
He added: "[We spent] two years trying to really define what social media is to him.
"Let's talk about what it is. Let's talk about the up falls. Let's talk about the downfalls. Let's talk about the assets. Let's talk about the traps. Let's talk about what you wanna tell.
"Because what happens a lot of times with young people and social media is they wake up in the morning and the first thing on their mind is, 'What will be a good post?' instead of, 'What do I want to do today?'"
Jenna backed his decision and added that she wants to make sure kids are living rather than just scrolling.
They all agreed that it's important for children to understand who they are before being bombarded with posts from friends, celebrities, companies, brands and influencers.
Parents hopped into the comments section and were so happy to hear an A-lister talk about a measured approach to the issue.
One person said: "Literal tears in my ears…just SO incredibly nice to hear other parents who GET this!"
Another added: "Wish all parents had the same mentality. Children are not learning to communicate."
A third wrote: "We were 'those parents' who would not give our children a phone until Christmas break of their freshman year of high school. It was a tough road, but if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t give it to them until their senior year."