Fran Healy believes social media is “tearing our society apart”.
The Travis frontman has taken aim at influencers and the online world in the group’s new song ‘I Hope That You Spontaneously Combust’ – which features on their latest album ‘LA Times’ – and admitted he is “irritated” at the way the world has shifted so people don’t interact with one another in the same way anymore and consume damaging images and information via the internet.
He told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper’s Wired column: “This song is me getting irritated.
“In California – where nobody talks to each other and just look at each other through glass – they invented this amazing thing that is tearing our society apart.
“Look at our kids, especially our girls, and the damage it does. And look at the blind eye the tech companies are turning en masse…
“Social media has created this other universe where it’s perfectly fine to swear and it’s a trough and horrible.
“The trough is spilling out into the real world and people are interacting one-to-one like that.
“Make it more about fluffy rabbits and cats again, not making kids kill themselves. So all those people can just f*** off.”
The ‘Driftwood’ hitmaker thinks social media should be more tightly restricted when it comes to young people accessing content.
Fran – who lives in the US – added: “Now in LA, all the public schools in the district voted to not allow anyone to bring cell phones to school.
“That’s like a big thing and now they are talking about stickers or warnings on social media sites.
“You’re not allowed to smoke until you’re 18 in America, but you’re giving these absolutely destructive things covered in stars, bright colours and happy faces to 13-year-old kids who have no idea and learning socialisation on those things, and ripping their minds apart. Kids are killing themselves.”