Jennifer Garner Explains Why She Doesn’t Want Her Children on Social Media and How They Feel About It

Jennifer Garner has 14.1 million followers on Instagram and regularly posts several times per week, but that’s not something any of her children will be doing – at least anytime soon. Not only does she prevent her children from being on social media, but her eldest child is actually thankful for her mom’s guidance. 

Garner recently sat down with Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on TODAY and gave her reasoning behind her strict social media rules – and it makes sense. “I just said to my kids, ‘Show me the articles that prove that social media is good for teenagers, and then we’ll have the conversation,'” she said. 

She wants her children to ‘find scientific evidence that matches what I have that says that it’s not good for teenagers, then we’ll chat.’ In a world where social media use – especially among young teenagers – is at an all-time high, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to spare your kids of the negativity it welcomes.

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While many parents (and children) would think Jennifer Garner’s kids would resent her for her desire to shield her children from social media use, it has actually worked well for the 50-year-old actress – so far, at least. In fact, her eldest daughter – Violet Affleck, 17 – is glad her mother raised her the way she did.

“My eldest is grateful. It’s a long haul. I have a couple more to go, so just knock on wood. We’ll see if I really hang in there,” Garner continued in her interview with TODAY hosts Guthrie and Kotb. She has two more children – Saraphina, 13, and Samuel, 11 – who she shares with her ex-husband Ben Affleck. 

There’s a lot of evidence and plenty of studies that support Garner’s disapproval of social media use by teenagers – most of which points to a higher risk of depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety. With teens using social media at an all-time rate, parents should be aware of the many negatives that come with it.

It’s something that has the state of Utah looking to create a trend. With a couple of bills signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, they became the first state to require parental consent for anyone under the age of 17 who wants to sign up for a social media account – and that goes for every single social media platform. 

Jennifer Garner Starring in ‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ on April 14

In January 2021, Hello Sunshine – a media company founded by Reese Witherspoon – announced that Julia Roberts was slated to star in an upcoming thriller miniseries titled The Last Thing He Told Me. 10 months later, they announced that Jennifer Garner was replacing her due to scheduling discrepancies. 

Filming for the TV series began on May 3, 2022, with Garner being joined by Angourie Rice, Nikolaj Coster–Waldau, Aisha Taylor, Geoff Stults, John Harlan Kim, and Augusto Aguilera. It’s scheduled to premiere on April 14, 2023 on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes and one per week after that. 

Garner says it’s a story about motherhood, with her playing the stepmother of Rice’s character. The two form an unexpected bond when Garner’s character teams up with her stepdaughter to search for her husband (her stepdaughter’s father) after he disappears. It’s based on a 2021 novel of the same name. 

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“I put my kids to bed, I brewed some coffee, and I stayed up all night writing impassioned letters about, ‘I don’t do this really very often, but I really feel called to play this role, I love it so much and here’s why,'” Garner said about her finding out Roberts was made unavailable for the show, opening the door for her.