Erin Napier Confirms Kids Won’t be on Social Media: ‘Not What They Need’
By Movieguide® Contributor
HGTV star Erin Napier confirmed that her children will not be on social media and shared why she’s made that decision.
“I think there are just masses of us who are millennials who started college or finished high school around the time social media began. So we clearly see what life is like connected in the digital age, but when we were more mature and could handle it — and we still see how difficult it is,” she told PEOPLE. “I think that’s a perspective Gen X isn’t familiar with. They didn’t know what could come with that and let their kids have phones young without knowing.”
“I think we’re going to see a huge change with parents that are millennials. I don’t have a single friend who is open to letting their child have access to a smartphone before the age of 16,” she added. “It’s not something we all discussed and decided on together. It’s something we just know. It’s not what our kids need.”
While some argue that her position deprives kids of social interaction and experiences, Napier disagrees.
“For us, it’s less about what we don’t want them to use and more about what we want them to do with the adolescence that they’re going to be given,” she explained.
Napier and her husband, Ben, also don’t share photos of their daughters on social media.
“It’s our job to build a hedge of protection around their heart until they’re strong enough to fight that battle,” she told PEOPLE previously.
Rather than have her kids glued to screens, Napier wants them to learn about themselves and the real world.
“I feel like when our kids have more opportunity to be engaged in the real world and learning skills and finding their talents, that’s where self-assurance comes from,” she added. “And the opposite of finding self-assurance is in social media. Everything that tears down our self-confidence and self-assurance lives there,” the mom of two levels.
“So that’s really what we want to focus on is helping our girls find their gifts in the real world, and when they’re older, much older, I think they’ll be mentally prepared for what social media is and the tool that it can be,” Napier concluded.
In fact, the Napiers are so passionate about protecting children from social media that they started the nonprofit Osprey to help other parents.
“My kindergartener doesn’t expect to drive a car before she’s old enough. She doesn’t expect to own a house of her own before she’s old enough,” Napier said. “If we build a culture in our home and school now where she doesn’t expect access to the entire world in her pocket until she’s much older, we can set her up for success.”
Movieguide® previously reported:
HOME TOWN couple Erin and Ben Napier have been very open about their stance on social media for their two girls. Now, the two have launched a new nonprofit organization, Osprey, that is dedicated to helping other parents keep their children off social media.
In an Instagram post initiating the new organization, Erin Napier wrote, “My friends parenting smart phone-free middle schoolers have had a brutal experience of seeing their child left out, even though research tells us social media is as addictive and destructive for developing brains as any drug…”
“Forming a circle of families and friends who are in this together when your kids are little, linking arms and doing what it takes to give your kids the gift of a social media free adolescence is the only way we change the culture,” she concluded. “For the TWENTY THOUSAND parents who’ve already joined the Osprey newsletter after my post last month, we have a vision and a plan to give our kids support that starts now and takes them through high school graduation. Let’s make old school the new way.”
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
