Although Kate Winslet plays Steve Jobs’s confidant Joanna Hoffman in the new biopic about the Apple co-founder, she says that children shouldn’t be allowed to use technology.
Winslet, in an interview with The Sunday Times, said that her own children aren’t allowed on social media. The Oscar-winning actress says that today’s parents are “losing control” of their offspring.
She criticizes today’s youth as deriving self-worth from strangers’ responses to their selfies. Winslet emphasized the importance of board games, outdoor activities, and playing “I-spy” on long car trips rather than losing yourself in the Internet world.
“It has a huge impact on young women’s self-esteem, because all they ever do is design themselves for people to like them,” Winslet told the Times. “And what comes along with that? Eating disorders. And that makes my blood boil and is the reason we don’t have any social media in our house.”
Some experts disagree. The American Academy of Pediatrics published a September feature outlining guidelines for healthy social media use. They have a series of recommendations but the chief message is: Be conscious of what your child can see online and be sure to talk to him or her about it.
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