Erin Napier is making a conscious effort to keep her daughters off social media after her experience with online critics.
Erin, 37 — who shares daughters Helen, 5, and Mae, 2, with husband Ben Napier — explained the parenting decision in an essay published via Today.com on Tuesday, August 1.
“When my daughter Helen, who’s now 5, was very young, I posted a picture of her, and someone criticized the way she looked. It made me see red. It made my blood boil,” she shared. “And it seems like the criticism always comes from other women. It feels like betrayal when a fellow mother has the gall to criticize your child or your parenting.”
Erin went on to share that when Helen was first born, she and Ben, 39 — who cohost HGTV’s Home Town — made an “informal agreement” with three other families “to support each other in keeping our kids off social media and smartphones at large.”
The mom of two emphasized that she doesn’t want her daughters to be “disconnected” and plans to get them phones with music-playing capabilities once they are old enough to drive.
Erin and Ben — who tied the knot in 2008 — further committed to their principles by launching the nonprofit Osprey in July along with friends Catherine Sledge and Taylor Sledge. Per the organization’s website, Osprey aims to “help our kids achieve social media-free childhoods until they graduate high school.”
Erin wrote via Today.com that she was inspired to start the nonprofit after a friend’s daughter felt “like an outcast” as the only kid in her friend group without social media. “It made me think, why don’t we just give this idea that we formed with three other families a name, where people can have support in keeping their kids off social media and away from smartphones wherever they are?” she penned.
Erin Napier Courtesy of Ben Napier/Instagram
Erin has previously spoken out against social media trolls. In January 2021, she exclusively told Us Weekly that she didn’t “understand why people feel like they can say on social media things they would never say in person.”
The HGTV personality then shared how she responds to “rude” comments from mom shamers.
Ben Napier and Erin Napier Courtesy of Erin Napier/Instagram
“I like to begin with: ‘You would absolutely not speak to me this way in person. Why do you feel like it’s okay to do it here? It’s not. And this little corner of the Internet belongs to me so you’re not welcome here anymore,’” she said. “Any time someone feels like they can be rude on my social media account, I’d like to let them know this isn’t an acceptable way to communicate and you’re not going to be welcome here anymore, and I block them.”
Although Erin and Ben occasionally share photos of their girls via Instagram, they keep their faces out of view. Erin told Us that deciding “what’s okay to share” is the couple’s “personal choice, and it’s not the same for everyone.”