Emily Ratajkowski thinks young people have a "great attitude" toward social media now.
The 28-year-old model and actress has praised users of social media app TikTok, because she believes the platform – in which users create short video clips – is more "realistic" than Instagram, because it doesn’t offer the ability to "over-filter" images to make them seem "perfect".
Emily believes young people using platforms like TikTok have a "healthier" relationship with social media than those in their 20s, who can often find apps like Twitter and Instagram damaging to their mental health.
She said: "I can’t stop talking about TikTok. I just downloaded it. I’ve actually thought a lot about it because a lot of people on there are 10, 15 years younger than me, and I think [with them] there is a really great attitude around social media.
"There’s a little bit more of a realism. I feel like when Instagram first came out everyone was over-filtering and [showing] perfection. And now it’s, like, videos about your pimples, and I think that’s really cool."
Although Emily prefers TikTok over Instagram, she does credit the latter with helping people to have "control" over their own image.
She added: "That’s the great thing about the internet and Instagram: having control and being able to curate your image."
But the beauty has urged young people to ignore what other people on social media might say as she spoke of the dangers of social media.
Giving advice to teenagers online, she said: "Listen to yourself. I think that you’re going to have a lot of people weighing in and telling you when something is powerful or when it’s not. But ultimately you’re the only person who can really know that. And, you know, really be nice to yourself. Be really nice to yourself."
Emily used to be "obsessed" with her looks, but now believes "realism" is more important.
Speaking to People magazine, she said: "I don’t get nervous in the same way I used to, which was so obsessive, looking at the pictures and being really hard on myself. I don’t think that’s healthy or constructive. And that goes back to the whole thing about realism – I think that we’re all human and that’s so important to remember."
Emily Ratajkowski: Young people have a ‘great attitude’ toward social media
