Keira Knightley is taking a firm stand against social media use in her home to protect her children from what she calls “terrifying” and “unregulated spaces.”
The Woman in Cabin 10 star, 40, revealed during an interview on BBC Radio 4 that her daughters Edie, 10, and Delilah, 6 whom she shares with husband James Righton, are not allowed on devices without supervision.
“I find it very terrifying because they’re unregulated spaces,” Knightley said in a video shared Wednesday. “And I think for children, unregulated spaces are ones I want to protect them from.”
“So in our house, we’ve got a no social media thing,” she continued. “They’re not allowed on devices if we can’t see what they’re looking at…”
Knightley, who married musician James Righton in 2013, admitted that while she and her husband are doing their best to set boundaries, she’s uncertain how long they can maintain those rules. “I don’t know whether that’s right or how long we can keep that going,” she said, acknowledging the challenges of raising children in a tech-driven world.
When host Anna Foster asked about peer pressure, Knightley shared that her daughters’ school has helped ease the issue. “We’re at one of the schools that is doing that ‘social media-free’ childhood where the parents mostly all do the same thing,” she said. “So I think most of the parents at the school, there was a big push and I think most of us are in agreement that that’s the way forward that we want to go. But obviously not everybody, because it is an issue that divides a lot of people.”
The Atonement actress added that she wishes there were stronger regulations to protect children online. “I would love it if some regulation came in so it wasn’t all put on the parents,” she said.
Since becoming a mother, Knightley has also changed the way she approaches her career, telling The Times that she’s become more selective with her roles. “I couldn’t go job to job [abroad] now. It wouldn’t be in any way fair on them, and I wouldn’t want to,” she said. “I’ve chosen to have children, I want to bring them up, so I’ve had to take a major step back.”
“I’ve been really surprised in the past few years about what I’ve said no to,” she added. “I’ve wanted it to be more pure entertainment and maybe that’s because I’ve needed that. I keep being offered things about children dying or about mothers dying. Can’t do it.”
Source: People
