Ben Affleck has been banned from Instagram twice for "impersonating" himself.

The Hollywood actor has confessed he only set up an account on the platform to keep an eye on his kids - Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14 with ex-wife Jennifer Garner - and find out what they were up to online but he fell foul of the site's security measures and was kicked off.

In an interview with Variety, Ben explained: "I got banned from Instagram twice for impersonating myself. I had six followers.

"It was my kids and some of their friends. It was just an excuse for me to look at [my kids'] social media accounts."

He added of social media: "There used to be a time when everything you said or did wasn't on the permanent record. As you get older, you become aware of what that means.

"I experienced the whole world and had a whole life in private. I have a real sense of how valuable that is. I think Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep and Viola Davis and Denzel Washington are brilliant actors.

"It doesn't help me appreciate their movies to see what they had for lunch. I realize I sound like an old, out-of-touch person, but I believe that as an actor you have to maintain an illusion."

Ben also admitted he respects his former ex-wives Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez for the way they have been able to amass large followings on social media but he will never be able to follow in their Internet footsteps.

He said: "I've seen both Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner do amazing jobs cultivating and accruing value in those spaces. Don't think that's not real work. I couldn't do it. What am I going to do, unbox something? ...

"I would not be good at that [being an influencer]. I'd be a terrible influencer."

However, Ben is adamant his good friend and longtime work partner Matt Damon is just as bad at social but his pal has managed to keep more of his life private over the years.

He added: "He'd be worse. He's even more conservative in that regard ... He has plenty that he's dealt with, but to his credit he deals with it very wisely and gracefully in ways that I sort of careened around.

"He has had less sensationalistic stuff in his life, and good for him. There are ways in which events in my life, and sometimes my own actions, contributed to fostering some of that. When I was younger, I had my turn in the gossip mill."