Why Roxy Jacenko has changed how she feels about social media

Roxy Jacenko says the abuse she copped online has totally changed how she feels about social media — as she reveals the day that saw her backflip on her kids having their own accounts.

Roxy Jacenko was already broken by the house giveaway that went wrong – but the barrage of abuse she copped online changed everything about how she feels about social media.

“I can look at it now with clarity … but the barrage on social media was … unbelievable,” she says.

“Like disgusting.

“And, you know, it’s so interesting – I’ve actually been really closely following the whole Charlotte’s Wish you’ve been running, because I know as a mature adult at 44 how hard it hit me, the derogatory things people were saying.

“And I’m equipped with age to be able to manage it, and I couldn’t manage it.

“So you think someone like Charlotte – and you think you’re at the age of 12 or 11, imagine how bad it was not being able to navigate.

“I suppose that was one of the main reasons as well, that I’m most certainly on the front foot of that age of (social media) at 16, because when I did Pixie’s Instagram, those things weren’t a thing 13 years ago.

Roxy Jacenko, having copped abuse online, has changed how she feels about social media. Picture: Supplied

“Now I look at it in hindsight and it’s not advantageous.

“Pixie is that kid who came to a new school in Singapore, and everyone already was
like, ‘that’s that girl’.

“She walks into a classroom and they’re Googling her.

Roxy Jacenko and her daughter Pixie. Her children no longer have social media accounts and will only feature on hers. Picture: Instagram

“Exposing your child to those kind of things is so detrimental.

“You know, I’ll put her and Hunter on mine. Why? Because I’m proud of them.

“I look at them and I feel proud, but in terms of wanting to sponsor stuff – no, no, no, no, no.

“The world is cruel.

“And I know at 44 how cruel they were to me, and they are on a daily basis.

“Imagine, for a young person who doesn’t know how to navigate, you can see what the result is and it’s horrific.”

She says Pixie was cultured on the world of headlines, paparazzi and social media from a young age – and there was a day that changed it all.

“You’ve got to remember, we would be walking down the street, and if there was something newsworthy, there’ll be a paparazzi taking our picture … so she’s known from a young age, if she’s going to the local bakery to get something to eat before school, there’s chance that snappy Steve may be there and take a picture of her,” she says.

“However, when it really hit home for me, it was well before the shocking incidents that have been going on in Australia of late – but when I brought her a product home, and I said ‘You, need to post this, you’re getting paid’.

“And she was like, ‘I’m not posting that, because I’ll get bullied’ – and I was, like, that’s where it stopped.

“I would rather go take a job for $10 an hour at the local McDonald’s like I did – which was $5.25 an hour then – and her earn money that way.

“Sure, she’s not going to get $2000 in the one post, but at least she’s not made a victim ... she knows the boundaries.”

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