Kirk Cameron Advises Parents on How to Navigate Social Media With Their Kids

The 'Growing Pains' star is tackling the issue in a new documentary.

Actor Kirk Cameron is tackling some modern-day growing pains of his own as he dispenses advice to other parents about their children’s use of social media. 

“We share the same universal concern that every parent today shares about the effect of social media and technology is having on their kids,” he told Inside Edition. 

The father of six has produced a new documentary called Connect, which he describes as a "how to" guide to navigating the social media world with your kids.

“We saw our kids spending too much time on their phone," he said. "By design, it is addictive." 

He said that in an effort to fight a child's addiction to his or her phone and social media, engage them more. 

“We decided best thing we could do is get in a relationship with our kids, get excited about what they're excited about — ‘Hey look, let’s use this in a way that can help you not hurt you,’” Cameron said. 

He also has advice for dealing with online bullying.

“Don’t draw your identity from what some person out there who says who you are," he said. "Understand that you're my son, my daughter. Get your identity from who you are in our family and from God."

Most importantly, he says, kids need to take a break from social media and build friends face to face. 

“If they don’t figure out real relationships, how are they going to have a family? How are they going to have a successful marriage [or] hold down a job?” he said. “At the end of the day, we want our kids to be happy and healthy."

RELATED STORIES