Selena Gomez has deleted Instagram from her phone despite the fact that she is the third most followed person on the platform. The star says Instagram is bad for her mental health and would make her depressed.
It was a move that has shocked her 152 million fans and even prompted a response from the app’s big boss, Adam Mosseri, who said he was "disappointed" by her move, The Sun noted.
The former Disney star has previously struggled with depression and anxiety after her lupus diagnosis and kidney transplant and knows how tough it can be to crawl out of a dark place, and Instagram is just not helping her mental health.
Speaking to Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, the 26-year-old said the app could be detrimental to her happiness.
"I used to a lot [go online on Instagram and engage with my followers], but I think it’s just become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend a lot of time fixating on all these comments and letting this stuff in, and it was affecting me," she said, according to Elle. Gomez said she decided it was best to delete Instagram from her phone because it wound up making her feel depressed.
"It would make me feel not good about myself, and look at my body differently and all kinds of stuff so I actually don’t have it on my phone," she said.
Her account, however, is still active.
"I have it on someone else’s phone and when I feel like I want to share something with my fans or mess around with it, I do it then,” she says
This is not the first time Gomez has spoken out about the negative impact Instagram can have on the youth. In an interview with The New York Times she said it felt as if every negative comment was cutting in to her soul.
"Imagine all the insecurities that you already feel about yourself and having someone write a paragraph pointing out every little thing — even if it’s just physical." Gomez admitted that she deleted Instagram from her phone "at least once a week."
Shortly after that interview, Gomez stepped away from the limelight and entered a rehab facility to focus on her mental health, The Sun noted. For 90 days she did not have access to her phone.
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