Erin Napier says she could have never grown up in the social media age — and she doesn't think her daughters should have to either.
The "Home Town" star shared a candid post Dec. 22 on Instagram that found her opening up about being a "sensitive artistic kid" who would have crumbled under the "crushing pressure" of living her life online.
"This was me in 11th grade. Smart phones did not exist. I loved making art and doing photography with the Canon SLR I bought with my money from making tips playing music at the coffee shop downtown," Napier wrote next to a throwback photo of herself as a teen.
"I took photos of things I liked: an old doorknob in an old house, a Grand Wagoneer I saw parked on the street, the beach at low tide, my newly painted toenails, the empty bench in Pinehurst Park before people came downtown," she continued.
The HGTV personality, who began her professional career as a graphic designer, recalled printing out her photographs and showing them to parents and friends, who "encouraged" her to continue pursuing creative endeavors. She never worried that her favorite hobbies and passions weren't shared by other girls at school, she added.
"I am so thankful I grew up without the crushing pressure of social media. As a highly sensitive artistic kid, the criticism or silence of 'likes' would’ve hurt me deeply. It would have shaped me into someone, something else," she wrote.
“I read once where we should only accept the criticism of people who know us and love us well enough to deliver it gently and in a way that helps instead of hurts,” she went on. “Social media for teenagers is the harshest criticism of all, and worst of all a distorted and broken and misguided kind of critic who sets these young people without their fully developed emotional minds on the wrong path.”
Napier, who shares two daughters, Helen, 4, and Mae, 1, with her husband and “Home Town” co-star Ben Napier, explained that she believes that social media is best used by adults “who know who and what they are.”
That's one reason why she and her closest friends have decided not to let their children have smart phones until they are older. “That way, they can’t say ‘but all my friends have one,’” she wrote.
“Is it mean to keep them from communicating with smart phones? I don’t care,” wrote the star, who added that she wants to prevent her little ones from finding “distorted” images and messages online, including porn, hate, and “the criticism of strangers.”
“Childhood is so short,” she concluded. “We’re gonna savor every last second of our girls’ that we can.”
Fans commented on Erin Napier's post to tell her they agreed with her opinions about keeping kids off of social media and smartphones.
"Team no smartphones for teens here!" wrote one. "We have discussed possibly allowing them when they are 16 or 17 in a closely monitored and heavily locked-down way, because we want to make sure they know how to use tech in a responsible way before they leave home. BUT that will also very much depend on where our kids and the world are 12+ years from now. Thanks for speaking about this!"
"I just had this discussion today with a friend; social media has become a haven for so much meanness," wrote another. "It seems people have so much more 'courage' when they don’t have to say something evil to someone’s face, so as a parent, I agree with you; why expose children to that? Life has so many lessons in store for your girls, early exposure to social media won’t teach them how to navigate tough waters, you and your family will do that."
In December 2021, Napier and her husband opened up to People about how they prioritize time with their daughters.
For starters, the couple works set hours — from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — every day. “I really don’t want someone to else raise them,” Erin Napier said of her little girls. “I want us to be 100% a part of their life.”
And when filming or media obligations prevent the pair from being home in Laurel, Mississippi, they take their kids on the road with them. “We don’t fold on our family time," explained Ben Napier.
The busy mom and dad are the first to acknowledge that family life requires a lot of planning and scheduling.
“We’re just trying to find our rhythm,” said Erin Napier. “We had a rhythm as a family of three, and now we’re a family of four. Mae needs things when she needs them, and so does Helen and so do we. It’s a challenge, but I think we’re figuring it out.”