Jennifer Garner explains why her teenage children aren't allowed on social media
Amelia Jones
Featured Image Credit: MediaPunch Inc / REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo
Jennifer Garner is getting candid about why her three children aren't allowed on social media.
The 13 Going On 30 star share Violet, 17, Seraphina Rose, 14 and Samuel, 11, with her ex-husband, Affleck.
The 50-year-old actor appeared on Tuesday's (11 April) Today show and told hosts, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager, that she didn't make a blanket rule when it came to her kids being on social media.
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Instead, she challenged them to prove to her how social media can be beneficial.
Garner explained: "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'.
"Find scientific evidence that matches what I have, that says that it's not good for teenagers. Then we'll chat."
When asked how they're coping without social media, she said that her eldest, Violet 'is grateful'.
But she added that she may change her stance when it comes to her two younger children, but only time will tell.
She shared: "We'll see. I mean, it's a long haul.
"I have a couple more to go, so just knock on wood. We'll see if I really hang in there."
As for the reasons behind the rule?
In 2019, she shared on an episode of Next Question with Katie Couric why then-13-year-old Violet was not allowed to join Instagram.
Garner explained: "Without even having parents who are well-known, I worry about all kids having to deal with this new pressure.
"My daughter's at an all-girl school, and it's such a huge problem.
"She'll occasionally talk to me about getting Instagram and I can see why because I'm on there and it's something kind of fun that I do, and I am modelling the opposite of what I want for her to do.
"How often is that in parenting?"
Adding: "I just say, 'When you can show me studies that say that teenage girls are happier using Instagram than not, then we can have the conversation.
'But everything you look at, I don't see anything positive for you out there. You can look at mine when you want to, we can go over it together, but I just don't see it'."
And Garner isn't the only well-known mum shielding her children from the pressures of social media.
Pink has also admitted her daughter, Willow, is the only 11-year-old in her class without a phone because she has to 'prove' social media is good before she can use it.