Despite being a big fan of Instagram, which she regularly checks for the latest on health and fashion, Jo Whiley is adamant she won’t get lured into the world of TikTok.
Although she applauds the app for helping new musical artists to break through, as well as its influence on her 16-year-old daughter Coco’s fashion choices, she is loath to get sucked into what is widely thought to be social media’s most addictive app.
I haven't got TikTok. I don't want TikTok!” Jo tells woman&home resolutely. “It's just not a part of my life, and I'm happy about that.
"There's enough bombardment from so many different things. It’s definitely something I can do without. I'm genuinely quite glad it's not something I want to engage with at all because I’ve seen how other people become around it.”
“I really like Instagram because I see posts from people I like and you can get fitness tips – I seem to get a lot about how to tone your arms - and find out what your friends are up to. But I try and limit how often I go on there.”
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Jo, who thinks sharing our feelings and 'letting the tears flow' is so important, also worries about the amount of time we spend on our phones in general, and how much influence they have over us.
“What have we become? We're behaving really weirdly, and I think it’s because of our phones and what's on our phones. Everything we want to see is right there in front of us. Some people walk around looking at their phones constantly, and they must miss so much.”
However, Jo doesn’t think TikTok is all bad, and it does have one redeeming quality. “The only thing I can see that it's done that I quite like is that Coco and her friends have discovered lots of old music through it. It's really fascinating the way songs can blow up and become really big overnight.
“That reach is so wide it affects me while I play my radio show, so I think it's really interesting for discovering music generally. I love it when a brilliant song that may have been forgotten about suddenly becomes popular with a whole new generation.”
Much to the mum of four’s exasperation, Coco isn’t the only member of the family who’s a big fan of the fast-paced video-sharing site.
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“All I see is my husband scrolling endlessly and laughing at comedians. I don't think most of it is very funny, so I’m like, ‘What are you doing? You've literally been on your phone for ages.
“I’ll say to him, ‘What are you looking at now? Not TikTok again?’ I used to say that my teenage kids, and now I’m saying it to my husband!”
In her latest woman&home cover interview, Jo also talks about staying grounded, her favourite ways to stay fit, and reveals the celebrity who surprised her most.
Read Jo's full exclusive interview with woman&home in the September issue of the magazine, on shelves now.
