Laura Whitmore has said people learn while growing up that the world “isn’t always kind”.
But the Love Island host, 34, said people have not yet fully adapted to “cope” with the impact social media can have on their lives.
The TV star is one of many famous faces advocating for people and the media to “be kind” after Caroline Flack took her own life aged 40 last month.
Whitmore, who replaced Flack as host on this year’s winter series of Love Island, was speaking on the red carpet before the WE Day UK charity event at the SSE Arena in Wembley, north-west London.
Asked whether she feels pushing the message to “be kind” is making an impact, she told the PA news agency: “We are all human, and growing up you learn that the world isn’t always kind.
“My number one thing is be kind to yourself. We can’t control what other people do, we can only control what we do.
“We can be kind to others and kind to ourselves – and what anyone else decides to do is up to them. We can just be responsible to ourselves.
“I grew up in a generation without social media. I just missed it. I think I had it when I was just going to college and university.
“So I didn’t even have to deal with that, on that platform, with people talking about you, or trying to fit in.
“So I think that’s a huge thing because it is all so new, we don’t know how to cope with this.”
Whitmore also admitted that the result of the Love Island final, in which Paige Turley and Finley Tapp narrowly beat Siannise Fudge and Luke Trotman to the £50,000 prize money, was unclear up to the last moment.
She said: “Apparently it was the closest ever – 1%. Even I had a talk-back in my ear and could hear them going: ‘We are not sure which way it is going to go.’
“I had an inkling that it was going to be one of those two couples who were in the final two. I am a fan of Siannise and Paige, and the boys as well – Luke and Finn.
“I didn’t know which way it was going to go. Even down to the last minute, I was just waiting to hear in my ear.
“That’s quite exciting because sometimes there is one couple that stands out but this year there was quite a few.”
WE Day is an annual series of stadium events celebrating the charitable work of young people globally.