Matthew McConaughey Explains Why He Forbid His Son From Using Social Media Until He Was 15
It seems as if Matthew McConaughey would be a fun dad to have, but don't get it twisted — he runs a tight ship! During a recent interview, Matthew revealed that his son wasn't allowed to use social media until he turned 15, and now, it sounds like that's a rule that he and wife Camila Alves are planning to keep for their younger children as well. As far as fellow parents on the internet are concerned, it appears that plenty of people agree with this celebrity dad's parenting decision.
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Matthew's son wanted to use a social media a lot earlier than his parents agreed to.
During an interview with Today, Matthew said his oldest son, Levi, was clamoring for a social media account starting around the time he was 12 years old, but he and Camilla decided to hold out for a few more years.
"We tried to look at the up falls and the downfalls. It's not like sending your kid off to college, but it is like sending your kids off with a bunch of strangers into the world," he said.
They made it an ongoing discussion.
Before allowing him access to social media, Matthew and Camila spent a full two years talking about it with Levi.
"Let's talk about what it is. Let's talk about the up falls. Let's talk about the downfalls. Let's talk about the assets. Let's talk about the traps," Matthew said. "Let's talk about what you wanna tell. Because what happens a lot of times with young people and social media is they wake up in the morning and the first thing on their mind is, 'What will be a good post?' instead of, 'What do I want to do today?'"
Levi made his first social media post in June.
When he was finally allowed to use Instagram, Camila and Matthew shared a video announcing the news to their followers in celebration of his 15th birthday.
"I want to let all of y'all know you're getting a very cool and respectful young man, Levi McConaughey, coming at you, and I hope you can all do your best to treat him the same way," the proud dad said at the time.
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Fellow parents are praising Matthew for keeping his kids away from social media.
As Unilad pointed out, so many people took to the comments of the Today show's post about Matthew and Levi to share how much they support his choice.
"Wish all parents had the same mentality. Children are not learning to communicate," one person wrote.
Another person added, "I love that so many celebrities are being good examples about waiting when it comes to phones and social media."
It seems Levi has a good head on his shoulders.
So far, Levi has only made a handful of posts on his Instagram account — including some that feature his famous family — but he's already garnered nearly 300,000 followers.
This is a lot of powers in his hands, but thanks to his parents, it appears he's going to use it wisely.
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