What causes Sarah Harris’ anxiety

The Project host Sarah Harris gets “anxiety” seeing her young kids on social media, but acknowledges “the toothpaste is out of the tube on tech” and education is key.

The 43-year-old mother of two is supporting Unplug 24, on October 24, a national initiative encouraging people to abstain from social media for 24 hours.

It is being promoted by this masthead and Wayne Holdsworth, who came up with the idea and hopes it will be a catalyst for change.

Mr Holdsworth’s son Mac took his own life, aged 17, after becoming the victim of a predator. The date of the blackout is the first anniversary of Mac’s death.

“So much of our life is lived online it actually gives me anxiety to see my kids spending time on it, and as parents we have to set a good example by switching off more often,” Ms Harris said.

“Kids learn from us. I’ve spent time with Wayne and heard the story of how he tragically lost his son. No parent should ever have to go through that. Wayne is a beautiful dad who is channelling his grief into something good and I didn’t hesitate to support him on this.”

Ms Harris said she had personally been trolled by anonymous keyboard warriors.

“I’ve copped my fair share of trolls online. I can’t imagine how I would have coped as a teenager and thankfully I didn’t have to worry about that, my first phone was a Nokia 3210 and barely had texting capabilities.”

The mother of two continued: “We can’t be naive, the toothpaste is already out of the tube on tech … it’s part of our lives, now it’s our job as parents to model good boundaries with social media. Doing a detox and unplugging is a great way to start.”

Comedian Sam Taunton, also from The Project, has also backed the campaign and urged Australians to get behind the broader conversation on social media usage.

“Social media can be a great tool, but so much of our lives are now viewed through the prism of an algorithm, I think that’s something we need to address,” Mr Taunton said.

“It’s a challenge, and it’s not going away, but having these conversations is a great step forward in making social media a healthy space for us all to play in.”

Originally published as With the ‘toothpaste already out of the tube on tech’, Sarah Harris says Unplug 24 is a good way to start a social media detox