Penélope Cruz explains why her kids don’t have social media

By Yi-Jin Yu

Although Penélope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem tend to keep their family life private, Cruz opened up in a new interview about their children and social media.

The powerhouse actors are parents of two -- son Leo, 12, and daughter Luna, 10 -- but unlike many of their peers, the pre-teens don't have phones or social media accounts, according to Cruz, a practice she said she and Bardem plan on continuing with their kids until they're older.

Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Penelope Cruz attends the 14th Governors Awards in Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2024.

"It's for them to decide if they are going to have a job that is more exposed to the public or not. They can talk about that when they're ready," Cruz said in an Elle interview.

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Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem attend the 94th Annual Academy Awards, Mar. 27, 2022 in Hollywood, Calif.

The actress went on to characterize social media as "a cruel experiment" for children.

"It's so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming. And who pays the price? Not us, not our generation, who, maybe at 25, learned how a BlackBerry worked," Cruz continued. "It's a cruel experiment on children, on teenagers."

Cruz's concerns about the impact of smartphones and social media on young children and teenagers echoes the growing chorus of experts who agree that there may be long-term negative effects that we do not yet understand.

Last May, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy issued a major advisory about social media use and teens' mental health, calling for more policies, regulations and scientific research on the topic.

"To date, the burden of protecting youth has fallen predominantly on children, adolescents, and their families," Murthy wrote at the time. "While nearly all parents believe they have a responsibility to protect their children from inappropriate content online, the entire burden of mitigating the risk of harm of social media cannot be placed on the shoulders of children and parents."

The American Psychological Association says the use of social media is "not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people," but last May, in a first-of-its-kind action, the group issued 10 recommendations for parents to establish healthy social media use among children.

Their recommendations include:

• Youth using social media should be encouraged to use functions that create opportunities for social support, online companionship and emotional intimacy that can promote healthy socialization.
• Social media use, functionality, and permissions/consenting should be tailored to youths' developmental capabilities; designs created for adults may not be appropriate for children.
• In early adolescence (i.e., typically 10-14 years), adult monitoring (i.e., ongoing review, discussion, and coaching around social media content) is advised for most youths' social media use; autonomy may increase gradually as kids age and if they gain digital literacy skills. However, monitoring should be balanced with youths' appropriate needs for privacy.
• To reduce the risks of psychological harm, adolescents' exposure to content on social media that depicts illegal or psychologically maladaptive behavior, including content that instructs or encourages youth to engage in health-risk behaviors, such as self-harm (e.g., cutting, suicide), harm to others, or those that encourage eating-disordered behavior (e.g., restrictive eating, purging, excessive exercise) should be minimized, reported, and removed; moreover, technology should not drive users to this content.
• To minimize psychological harm, adolescents' exposure to "cyberhate," including online discrimination, prejudice, hate or cyberbullying, especially directed toward a marginalized group (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, religious, ability status), or toward an individual because of their identity or allyship with a marginalized group, should be minimized.
• Adolescents should be routinely screened for signs of "problematic social media use" that can impair their ability to engage in daily roles and routines, and may present risk for more serious psychological harms over time.
• The use of social media should be limited so as to not interfere with adolescents' sleep and physical activity.
• Adolescents should limit use of social media for social comparison, particularly around beauty- or appearance-related content.
• Adolescents' social media use should be preceded by training in social media literacy to ensure that users have developed psychologically informed competencies and skills that will maximize the chances for balanced, safe and meaningful social media use.
• Substantial resources should be provided for continued scientific examination of the positive and negative effects of social media on adolescent development.