Kirstie Allsopp has opened up about her personal experience with social media app Instagram, admitting it can leave her feeling "low and inadequate". The Location, Location, Location star - who is a mother to sons Bay Atlas, 12, and ten-year-old Oscar Hercules - took to Twitter to explain her decision to ban her children from using the app. "Instagram makes me feel sad, inadequate, or left out more often than it cheers me up," she tweeted. "I'm a pretty successful adult, so how much worse is it for kids? It’s so hard to hold out against a 12-year-old longing for a smart phone, but I’m sticking with it."
© Photo: Getty ImagesKirstie Allsopp has revealed the negative impact Instagram has on her
The 47-year-old then claimed parents have a responsibility to keep their children off Instagram until they are 13, which is the app's minimum user age. "I understand this to a degree, but Instagram sets its minimum age at 13," she told one follower. "It was never designed for use by anyone younger than that, and we can't expect them to protect our kids if we have allowed them to lie to access the site."
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Kirstie's tweet was met with a mixed reaction from her followers, with one tweeting: "This is really interesting. I find Instagram so positive and far softer than Facebook which I no longer look at other than for messages. I assume much of this has to do with who you follow. For the most part I follow ceramic, bookbinding, books and some friends." Another person said: "I completely agree Kirstie! Closed my Facebook account as I constantly felt inadequate. As a teacher I see the issues created by social media on a daily basis. We are raising a generation who will struggle with mental health issues."
However another wrote: "Think probably says more about who you are following than anything else. I follow interesting, insightful clever people who are more of an inspiration and guide to me. Change it up gurl." [sic] Last year, Kirstie made headlines after admitting she smashed her children's iPads when they spent too long playing on them. Kirstie sparked plenty of debate on Twitter, with some praising her for her robust decision - but others questioned why she didn't give the iPads to charity instead. She was temporarily forced to shut down her Twitter account.
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