Comedian Kane has counselling for his addiction to internet
RUSSELL KANE, the comedian, has disclosed that he is receiving treatment for internet addiction – and likened the lure of social media to cocaine.
Kane said his use of a smartphone to monitor social media had become out of control and was affecting his family life.
Speaking on his Boys Don’t Cry podcast, Kane, 42, said: “I’ll throw something out there. I’ve had six counselling sessions for internet addiction. Six, because it’s affecting my life.
“I haven’t shared this publicly; in fact, I don’t think my mum even knows this. I was getting in, say, from a gig, going back on a Sunday morning, and all my family has arrived to a barbecue and I’ll go and get changed.
“But I wasn’t just going up there to get changed, I was going up there because I wanted to refresh my socials and have a few minutes on the phone.
“That is like someone going to the bathroom to do coke. I am no longer in control of how I’m using that machine.”
Kane’s admission comes after the Royal Society for Public Health launched Scroll-free September, an initiative urging people to take a break from all personal social media accounts for 30 days.
The Daily Telegraph’s Duty of Care campaign is calling for legislation to protect young children from online harm. The first Nhs-funded internet addiction centre for young people and adults is set to open in London, focusing first on addiction to video games.
Last month, the World Health Organisation identified “gaming disorder” as a new mental health condition.
Kane, a stand-up comedian and television presenter, has 100,000 followers on Instagram, more than 280,000 on Facebook and 663,000 on Twitter.
Other celebrities who have admitted to a problem with social media include Selena Gomez, the singer and actress, who has said that becoming the mostfollowed person on Instagram – with 139million followers – had a detrimental effect on her health.
“It had become so consuming to me. It’s what I woke up and went to sleep to. I was an addict,” she said.
Recent research from Ofcom showed that more than 150,000 children aged 12-15 spend more than eight hours a day online at weekends, with most children becoming active on social media when they start secondary school at 11.