'I worry about my kids': Mark Richardson urges social media addicts not to care about 'likes'

Mark Richardson says people need to disentangle their self-esteem from social media likes after a New Zealand town revealed people are putting themselves in danger for the 'gram.

Kawakawa locals say people are wandering into traffic for an Insta-famous photo of their toilet attraction, sparking fears people are risking their lives for the perfect selfie.

Richardson was hosting Three's The Project on Thursday, and told his fellow presenters he had some advice for those on social media.

"I worry about my kids being dragged into this on social media, the likes so to speak," he said.

"We've got to get over this obsession with needing to be liked, for social acceptance - and that leads to self-esteem. You don't need to be liked to have self-esteem.

"I would say 90 percent of the people in this room don't particularly appreciate me, nor like me - and I'm quite happy."

The dangers of Instagram fame have come to the fore in recent times.

Taking selfie photos and vids to new heights can make you a social media high-roller - all those followers are a digital currency that advertisers will pay top dollar to access.

But where there's a reward, there's a risk. Wikipedia pages listing selfie injuries and deaths scroll endlessly, revealing a global problem.

That goes from Norway's Trolltungain - a 1100m cliff catwalk - to a number of places in Russia, where in 2015 the government actually issued pamphlets warning people against dangerous selfies.

Watch the video for the full The Project segment.