Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Grownups don't need to use social media

I've got a life tip for you - Grownups should not post their opinions on social media. Case in point, Gary Lineker.

Now, Gary is about to announce that he's leaving his job at the BBC because of a social media post. This, in the UK, is very big news.

Gary's a very popular host. He's the highest earner at the BBC because of how popular he is. He gets a salary of about $3 million New Zealand dollars, he's a former professional football player - I wager that if you ask anyone in the UK who Gary Lineker is, they'll be able to tell you. That's how well known he is.

But he just torpedoed his own career by reposting a pro-Palestine video on social media that criticized Zionism and included an illustration of a rat.

Now know your history on this - a rat is an image that was used in Nazi Germany to characterize Jews as vermin. You don't get away with that, you've got to know what you're doing there.

And the thing about it is this wasn't even Gary's first mistake. Like with the first mistake - you could cut the guy a bit of slack.

Then he posted about migrant policy, got in trouble, posted about the Tories, got in trouble, posted about politics in general, got in trouble, and he'd be given many chances to learn that having a rant on on social media gets you in trouble - but he just couldn't stop himself.

When it came to posting that video and the little image of the rat, now he's gone. It is mind-blowing to me that in 2025, after 20 years of social media and of people getting in trouble, we still have people doing this.

I mean, we just had 'Bussy Galore', we had Damian O'Connor last year saying Hamas was justified in what they did on October 7th to women and children, we had Penny Henare posting a picture of David Seymour with poo coming out of his eyes and a bumhole for a mouth.

I mean, these are grown adults. It's like kindergarten stuff, isn't it?

You'd think people would think, would learn that it's not worth it, but I guess the dopamine hit you get from people loving what you say and the narcissism - those things are strong motivators, it would transpire.

Here's the thing - some people need social media for work. Influencers, for example, or the Māori Party, who appear to do all their politics on there or politicians who need it for publicity. And maybe, for them, the rules are a bit different.

Maybe they just need to stick to the subject at hand, like footballers post about football and nothing else, and the  Māori Party post about politics and nothing else. And maybe don't tweet after you've been drinking.

But for the rest of us, get off it. Adults do not need social media.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, listen, I've got a life tip for you. Grown
ups should not post their opinions on social media. Case
in point, Gary Lineker. Now Gary is about to announce
that he's leaving his job at the BBC because of
a social media post. Now, this in the UK is
big news. Gary's a very very popular host. He's the
highest earner at the BEE. Because of how popular he is,

(00:21):
he gets a salary of about three million New Zealand dollars.
He's a former professional football player. I wager that if
you ask anyone in the UK who Gary Lineker is,
they'll be able to tell you. That's how well known
he is. But he just torpedoed his own career, didn't
he by reposting a pro Palestine video on social media
that criticized Zionism and included an illustration of a rat.
Now know your history on this. A rat is an

(00:44):
image that was used in Nazi Germany to characterize Jews
as vermin. You don't get away with that. You got
to know what you're doing right. And the thing about
it is this wasn't even Gary's first mistake. Like first mistake,
you could go, oh, you know, cut the guy. But
a slack. He'd posted about migrant policy, got in trouble,
posted about the Tories, got in trouble, posted about politics

(01:04):
in general, got in trouble. And he'd be given chance
and chants and chance to learn that having a rant
on social media gets you in trouble. But he just
couldn't stop himself when it came to post in that
video in the little image of the rat. Now he's gone.
It is mind blowing to me that in twenty twenty five,
after twenty years of social media and of people get
in trouble, we still have people doing this. I mean
we had Bussy Galore the other day. We had Damian

(01:27):
O'Connor last year saying Hamas was justified in what they
did in October seven to women and children. We had
Penny Henare posting a picture of David Seymour with poe
coming out of his eyes and a bum hoole for
a palth. These are grown adults, like It's like kindergarten stuff,
isn't it. Ah? You would think people would think it

(01:49):
would learn it's not worth it. But I guess the
dopamine hit that you get from people loving what you
say and narcissism those things are strong motivators. It would
trans anyway. Now here's the thing, this is what I think. Okay,
some people need social media for work influences for example,
or the Maori Party who appear to do all of
their politics there, and politicians who need it for publicity,

(02:12):
and maybe for them the rules are a bit different.
Maybe they just need to stick to the subject at hand.
Like footballers post about football nothing else, Marti Party post
about politics nothing else, and maybe don't tweet after you've
been drinking. But for the rest of us, get off its.
Adults do not need social media. For more from Heather
Duplassy Allen Drive. Listen live to news talks it'd be

(02:33):
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.