Rio Ferdinand has BANNED his children from TikTok and Snapchat as Manchester United legend reveals how disgusting social media a...
Rio Ferdinand has banned his children from using social media platforms
The Manchester United legend is wary of the negative effects of being online
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Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand has revealed he has banned his children from TikTok and Snapchat, though admitted it means they are ‘on the outskirts’ of their friendship groups at times.
The 44-year-old English football legend was in Sydney to promote social media app WeAre8, and for all of it’s features, it’s clear the ability of its AI software to keep the site 100 per cent free of any hate or abuse is key for the fiercely protective parent.
Ferdinand, an active social media user on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, explained exactly why he has banned his children from mainstream platforms.
‘My 11 year old daughter (Tia), all of her friends in her class are on TikTok and Snapchat, and I said: “No, you’re not doing it,”‘ the father of four, who is expecting another imminently, said.
‘I’ve done it, and I know what’s being pushed and it’s not right. I walked past her bedroom when I first let her have it, and some of the songs she was singing I was thinking, “Wow, I don’t even say the words sometimes on those songs.”
The Man United legend is wary of the negative effects that social media has on youngsters
The BT Sport commentator said his family, that includes wife Kate and son Cree, 2, as well as kids Lorenz, 16, Tate, 14 and Tia, 11, from his first wife Rebecca Ellison (who died of breast cancer in 2015) have had arguments around the dinner table about social media.
And it’s led to him realising it may even impact their friendships – not that it is changing his mind.
‘You don’t know what they’re getting, (but) you know, it’s not all alright, and it’s not for her (Tia) age group,’ Ferdinand said.
‘So I stopped her going on social media, and now the conversation (on social media use) is now like an argument at the dinner table.
‘And I feel sorry for her, because she’s excluded from a lot of the conversations that her friends are having, and she’s almost on the outskirts of the groups that she’s in because of that.
‘My daughter is coming into the age where she is able to use social media and I want to put her into a safer place, a safer playground, where she can actually go and be a friend and show her real self without feeling judged.’
Ferdinand said it got even worse for him when he looked at his son’s social media pages.
‘I looked at my son’s profile the other day on Instagram, and he only had two pictures. I thought, what the f***’s going on? He takes pictures all day, where all these pictures going?,’ he said.
‘I said to him, “where are all your pictures? I keep seeing you take pictures. You take a picture of this, or ask take a pic of my new trainers or whatever it is, but you’re not f***ing posting them.”
‘And he was like, “Yeah, no, I just don’t put it on Instagram. I’ll just post a pic and then delete it.”
‘At the time they feel really great about it (their picture). They post, but then when they sit and think about it, or see comments, they delete it.
‘This next generation is not like us. A lot of us are more thick-skinned than these kids, and that was really powerful for me, and I was like, “wow”.’
‘My kids are my sounding board for what’s good, and what’s cool and what isn’t, and when I speak with them about WeAre8, they question “so, people can’t comment?”
‘But they don’t even need to ask me that anymore. I know they’re thinking about that stuff, and that’s how I know I’m on the right path with this type of thing because those little prompts are because it (online hate) has impacted them somewhere else on other platforms.’
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