Megan Gale, Nadia Bartel among stars backing push to change social media age restrictions

Top model Megan Gale says she was crippled with shyness as a teen and could never have handled today’s social media scrutiny as she joins a movement pushing to raise the age limit for kids.

Megan Gale is confident in her own skin now but says social media would have destroyed her as a young teenager. Picture: Jason Edwards

Our homegrown stars know first-hand the pitfalls and dangers of social media.

Supermodel Megan Gale revealed the crippling shyness she felt as a teenager and how damaging having a presence on social media would have been for her.

Following the Herald Sun’s national “Let Them Be Kids” campaign this week to raise social media age restrictions from 13 to 16 years of age, Gale posted her own journey in support. “There was NO WAY my very thin skin back then could’ve handled social media scrutiny,” Gale posted.

Megan Gale says even now she gets affected by the dark side of social media. Picture: Getty Images

“Even now with my skin much thicker, almost three decades in the public eye and at the age of 48, I still have the odd day where social media and its darker underbelly impacts me negatively.”

Sharing some images of herself as a fresh-faced teen with braces at 13, Gale urged others to also sign the petition.

“I think back to myself between the ages of 13 to 16. While I was reasonably well like by my peers and had the odd boyfriend, I was also very shy at times, incredibly self conscious and lacked confidence. This was partly due to having my heart broken often and acquiring braces at age 13 until the age of 15.

“Recently there have been a lot of conversations around raising the minimum age for children to have a social media account from 13 to 16 which I personally think is a fantastic idea and long overdue.”

Melbourne stylist Suzy Eskander also says she was bullied and mocked by her peers when she was a teenager. Picture: Toby Zerna

Melbourne stylist to the stars Suzy Eskander also posted a series of pictures of herself as a teenager to social media, describing being bullied and mocked by her peers growing up and the dangers she would have felt if Instagram or TikTok were around.

Gale and Eskanders’s teenage confessions prompted several other social media stars from all industries, including singer Delta Goodrem, designer Nadia Bartel, chef Karen Martini, model Charlee Frazer and former Miss Australia Daria Varlamova, to Jasmine Stefanovic to message them in support to get behind the important campaign.

Gale published the Instagram post in support of the 36 Months campaign.