Maren Morris says she feels “terrible” for kids growing up with social media

Maren Morris says she feels “terrible” for kids growing up with social media
Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Maren Morris is glad she grew up before the TikTok era.

During a conversation for Audacy’s I’m Listening broadcast last week, the country superstar spoke to the negative impact of social media on the younger generation. “I feel terrible, honestly, for kids that are growing up with social media,” she said, according to Billboard.

“We had, like, the internet and stuff when I was in junior high and high school, but nowhere near the accessibility and just raw nature that it is now for kids,” Maren went on to say. “There was no TikTok, there was no Instagram.”

Of course, that didn’t mean bullying didn’t exist — but Maren points out that it’s easier to be mean through a screen.

“It was a lot more in-person bullying. Now it’s like, people can cowardly hide behind their phone screens,” the singer continued.

Maren knows about online feuds firsthand: Most recently, she was at the center of a fiery back-and-forth with Jason Aldean’s wife, Brittany Aldean, after Brittany made transphobic comments in an Instagram Reel, thanking her parents for not “changing my gender” when she went through her “tomboy phase.”

She’s also got a parent’s perspective on the tough challenges social media poses. Maren is mom to 2-year-old son Hayes, whom she shares with her fellow artist husband, Ryan Hurd.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.