Social media is a double-edged sword for rising stars

The young cast of ‘Harry Potter’ have been warned to stay off TikTok and Instagram. It’s wise counsel, but swerving these platforms is much easier said than done

- By Louis Chilton

Let's face it: we should probably all get off social media. The internet's grinding algorithmic maw has made short work of our fragile, organic brains – fostering insidious psychological insecurities, fermenting bitter ideological divides, and tearing our attention span to ribbons. And if you're a celebrity? The risks are twice as severe.

British actor Sophie Turner rose to fame at 14, when she was cast as Sansa Stark in HBO's lurid fantasy hit Game of Thrones. The year was 2011, and Turner was one of the first generation of child stars to find fame in an era of ubiquitous social media.

Speaking about it this week, Turner issued frank (or should that be Stark?) advice for the child stars of today. "I look at the kids who are about to be in the new Harry Potter," she told Flaunt magazine, "and I just want to give them a hug and say, 'Look, it's going to be OK but don't go anywhere near [social media]. It had such a profound impact on my mental health, like more than I could tell you. It almost destroyed me on numerous occasions."