PARENTS don’t understand the pressures youngsters face on social media, a Shrivenham teen tipped for stardom has said.

Izzy Dharmasiri, 15, who this morning represented Girlguiding on national TV, warned that sites like Instagram were piling additional stress on teens inspired by social media mega-stars.

The warning came as more than a third of girls told Girlguiding pollsters that comparing their lives to others’ is one of their greatest worries about spending time online.

The survey of almost 2,000 11-21-year-olds revealed that less than half felt their parents understood the pressures they faced on social media.

Among the other major concerns for the girls were online grooming, threats from strangers and how their pictures could be altered or taken out of context online.

Teen Izzy has been part of the Girlguiding movement since the age of four. She is now part of the 1st Shrivenham Guides and in April was accepted to represent Girlguiding on the British Young Council.

The Faringdon Community College pupil, who will Year 11 next month, said: “I’m an inveterate user of social media. I’m on it all the time. We’re the first generation to grow up with all this social media around us.

“But I don’t think adults really understand it or understand the problems we face.”

She said that social media super-celebrities created a difficult atmosphere for some girls of her age.

Izzy said: “The prime example is the Kardashians. Girls want that lifestyle where they can have the fancy cars and the nice clothes. But there’s nothing there saying that it isn’t normal.”

Izzy called for more about dealing with the pressure of social media to be added to the school curriculum.

“We’re really well educated about online grooming,” she said. “But if a girl’s low in confidence, perhaps because of what they see on social media, and a man messages them saying nice things they might oblige and message back.”

The Girlguiding movement has campaigned to make sex and relationships eduction compulsory in school. 

The Shrivenham teen praised Girlguiding as an escape from many of the pressures found online.

“Guiding is such an amazing thing to be part of. One of my favourite things about it is that it’s a safe space for girls. You don’t have the pressure of boys being there.”

Izzy, who this summer did work experience with North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson, dreams of going into politics when she’s older. She said: “It’s something I’m really passionate about.

“I think more needs to be done not only to get girls into parliament, but also to get girls more interested in politics.”