In the digital age, social media is nigh inescapable. Whether you use it to keep up with trends, learn more about hobbies, find businesses in your area, or keep in touch with friends and family, every platform has its uses.
Though, we’re starting to see the stars of these platforms become younger and younger, which raises some concern. When one 14-year-old social media star’s mother got worried, she took action to stop her daughter from becoming lost in it all.
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Social media is stronger and more prevalent than ever before.
This rings true especially for younger generations, who grow up far more involved with it. They have many accounts across many platforms on which they live their lives.
As is the goal with many social media platforms, they’re all vying to get as many followers as possible.
One 14-year-old from Brazil seemed to have hit it big, with a total of 1.7 followers at such a young age.
Valentina, who went by Nina Rios online, had amassed those followers across a few accounts, namely TikTok and Instagram. The more time she spent on social media interacting with said followers, the more worried her mother, Fernanda Rocha Kanner, became. Kanner knew she had to step in and do something , so she went with the more extreme option.
She deleted all of her daughter’s social media accounts.
Kanner believes that social media platforms like the ones her daughter was using are unhealthy. In an interview with Fantastico, according to Unilad , she said, “It’s hard enough for you to find out who you are at 14 years old. When there are two million [people] you’ve never seen in your life thinking they know you, it’s even more dangerous. It’s easier to lose yourself.”
Kanner believes it’s dangerous for *anybody* to be this attached to social media, not just her daughter.
“I don’t think it’s healthy even for an adult and much less for a teenager to base her self-discovery on online feedback,” she said.
Though she considered her approach to be “radical, yes,” she also thought it “necessary, too.”
Valentina’s reaction might not be what you’d expect, either.
Well, maybe at first, as she was quite upset. “I obviously wasn’t very happy,” she also told Fantastico. “I got quite angry.”
But as time went on, she came to see that without those accounts she was so tied to, she felt much freer.
Now, she’s not sure when she’ll return to social media.
“I’ll choose. At the moment, I don’t want to. It’s going to be something that’s only going to get in my way and it will only make it worse.”
Kanner feels good knowing she made the right decision, and it’s not something her daughter will resent her for.
Though she’d been confident from the start, knowing she didn’t want Valentina to, “grow up believing she’s this character.”
“I don’t want her advertising flammable polyester clothing made in China. I don’t want my brilliant daughter doing her daily dances like a trained baboon. It’s a sad generation for which this counts as fame.”
h/t: Unilad
