Celeste Barber shares her own children are not allowed social media, ahead of govt’s u16s ban
Sporting 10 million followers on Instagram alone, Celeste Barber is no stranger to the wild online world, but there’s a major reason she won’t allow her children to use social media.
One of Australia’s most famous social media stars has banned her kids from using online apps because she is terrified of the potential damage to their mental health.
Comedian, author and actor Celeste Barber has more than 10 million followers on Instagram alone, including a huge international contingent of fans.
“My children don’t have any social media,” Barber told Confidential.
“It’s terrifying with AI, people with their kids online, you just don’t know what’s out there. I personally think it’s (the ban) a great thing.
“It is just a bit of a beast and it can really mess with your mental health.”
The Australian Government moved to ban social media from those aged under 16 after The Daily Telegraph’s Let Them Be Kids campaign.
The world-first ban starts on December 10.
“They could not care less because they’ve never had it,” Barber, who is mum to an 11 and a 14-year-old, said.
“When they were first interested in getting it, and I was like, ‘absolutely not’, there were fights.
“They were, ‘but I can’t talk to people’, and I am like, ‘we have a landline’, but of course it doesn’t work like that. I understand, but it’s not worth it to me. I know I’m a grown arse woman who has a big following and lots of lovely supporters and people get into me as well, and I know how it affects me. I was like, ‘your excellent little brains and self esteem, you do not need to be near this’.”
There are times Barber wishes she wasn’t online herself.
“I’ve been online for 10 years and I still use Instagram the same way I did 10 years ago,” she explained.
“I even think, maybe I will get someone to run it for me and then sometimes when people do, it just doesn’t have the same clunkiness that I have and I like to invest in my audience when I do post.”
Barber, 43, sat down over lunch to celebrate the partnership of her makeup brand Booie with Woolworths.
She and PE Nation co-founder Clare Greaves started the brand when they recognised a gap in the market.
“Anyone can wear it, girls, gays, theys, anyone,” she said.
“My 11-year-old niece is obsessed with it and my 71-year-old mother is also obsessed with it. “We (women) kind of get aged out in the beauty space, in fashion, in society, … it is like, ‘great, now you go away now, we’ve had enough of you’. And I honestly believe we just get better, I know I am getting better.”
She continued: “(It is that) not only (women) don’t feel seen, we have actively been pushed out, but you’ve got to remember it’s women that run economies, women that run the households, they are the ones that are doing everything. So try to push us out and forget about us, but I’m like ‘Elbows McGee’ and I’m in there.”
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