Chris and Meg: We’re anti-social
CHRIS Packham says social media causes “chronic stress” – a grievance that is shared by his stepdaughter Megan McCubbin.
The pair are embarking on a road trip across the country for a new BBC show – and one thing they definitely agree on is the “enormous amount of damage” social media can do.
Megan, 25, who has co-hosted Springwatch as well as presenting wildlife slots on This Morning, said: “Speaking as a young woman, [social media] can be incredibly challenging.
“I can make a post on something I might be fronting, or be in, and I get more comments about the way that I look, rather than what I’m saying.”
The zoologist added: “Often, a lot of my friends are marine scientists for example and they are in wetsuits or swimwear and people say: ‘You can’t be taken seriously wearing that’.
“Do we all have to be middle-aged males with beards and a lab coat?
“One of the big things when I post anything, I’ll think in the back of my head: ‘Am I looking respectable?
Accountable
“Am I going to get posts more about my body and my face than what I am talking about?’”
Chris, 60, believes social media firms have a responsibility to crack down on trolls who act anonymously.
He said: “I do think it should be better regulated…I think the first thing they could easily do is just say that if you want a social media platform, you have to identify yourself as an individual and say who you are [and] become accountable.
“A lot of the time they do an enormous amount of damage in a lazy sort of way and it’s a chronic stress on people.”
Megan also noted that she is not technically Chris’s stepdaughter as he never married her mother, explaining: “People ask: ‘Who’s Chris to you?’
“I’m not going to say: ‘My mum’s ex-boyfriend who raised me!’ It’s a bit of a mouthful!”
●●Chris and Meg’s Wild Summer begins on BBC Two on Sunday August 29 at 8.30pm.