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Selena Gomez is one of the most popular celebrities on Instagram, in part because of her relatability: She's constantly online and is well aware of how emotionally draining social media can be.
Gomez, who recently became a billionaire, has always been very clear about when she steps away from Instagram and her 424 million followers. Although that meant she was mercilessly mocked online after she announced her Instagram exit in January, before posting again less than 24 hours later.
But she has now revealed that she will no longer announce her breaks on social media.
“I learned not to say that anymore,” he said. Vanity Fair This month. The Only murders in the building The star was even on a break from social media at the time of the interview. She later added that she was “thrilled” with her breaks from the apps at the time. “I've been working out. I've been taking care of myself. It's the first time I've taken a break in a while. So I feel good,” Gomez explained.
Though her breaks from Instagram have been short and sweet — she previously took one that lasted four years. “I let my team post for me during those years,” she said at the Time100 Summit in April. “I felt like it was the most rewarding gift I’d ever given myself. I think people, especially little kids, sit there so focused on what looks wonderful when everything that’s supposed to be wonderful for you isn’t from here.” She also acknowledged that she was “happier” and more “present” in her life during her long break from Instagram, which she took from 2017 to 2022.
While there are a number of reasons why someone would want to take a break from social media, one of the most common explanations is for the sake of someone's mental health, and Gomez has been extremely candid about her own experience with mental health.
According to the Disney Channel alum, she first experienced troubling symptoms in her early twenties, when she began to feel like she wasn't in control of her own emotions. In 2018, Gomez's symptoms intensified and she was admitted to a mental health facility, where she was officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness that causes “unusual changes in a person's mood, energy, activity levels, and concentration,” according to the National Institutes of Health.
“It started with depression, then I went into isolation,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2021. “Then I just couldn’t get out of my bed. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me.”
While Gomez no longer wants to announce when she logs off, being honest with her fans about her Instagram habits helps others know that they can take a break, too.
Talking with The IndependentChiaoning Su, PhD, a communications professor at Oakland University, acknowledged that although Gomez's social media breaks were brief, that doesn't mean even a little Instagram time is useless.
“There is a very clear correlation between excessive social media use, increased anxiety and lack of sleep,” she said. “Taking a step back and announcing a social media detox is a very positive signal to say that you care about your mental health. And that could be something that the younger generation can look up to and follow suit.”
In a 2018 survey of 1,000 people who said they would quit social media for good, 41 percent of them reported that social media platforms made them feel anxious, sad or depressed.
However, Su recommends that if you want to take a break, you don't need to announce your break. For some, it can be quite frustrating to see someone like that. The Wizards of Waverly Place The former student, who had gained so much trust from her fans, apparently went back on her decision, and this behavior may create misconceptions about the benefits of a social media break, Su warns.
“Everything she does with social media is something we pay attention to, right? Because she’s an icon on social media,” Su said. “The fact that she announced that she’s going to step away for a while, that she’s going to socially detox, and then come back so quickly, I think it kind of ridicules the idea of stepping away from social media, which is actually bad, because taking this break from social media could be very positive for the general public.”
Gomez took a public break from the app in January after addressing speculation that she and BFF Taylor Swift were gossiping about Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet at the 2024 Golden Globes. However, just one day after announcing her break, she returned to Instagram to promote her cooking video with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. In October, she expressed how the internet was affecting her mental health due to “all the horror and hate and violence and terror that’s happening in the world” and that she would be taking another break from the apps.
The social media hiatus was relatively short-lived, as she returned to Instagram less than two weeks later, with photos of herself in the kitchen at Moo's Craft Barbecue.
But being honest about those breaks (and then failing at them) also meant that Selena opened herself up to criticism every time she announced a new one. Unsurprisingly, many people took to X (formerly Twitter) to mock Gomez for coming back online so quickly in January.
“Her idea of sleeping at night is also considered taking a break from social media,” one person said. jokedwhile another wrote: “Every time I go on Instagram, Selena Gomez has posted something else on her story. Girl, stop saying you’re taking a break.”
“@selenagomez playing hide and seek with Instagram like, 'Just kidding, I'm back!'” another person posted. “Guess the social media break lasted as long as my New Year's resolutions! Welcome back #InstagramWhirlwind.”
Gomez has always been open about her emotional well-being, ever since she started directing her… Beautiful mind website with expert-backed mental health content, to filming a documentary about her lupus and bipolar disorder, titled Selena Gomez: My Mind and IThat honesty resonates with fans, even if they don’t know her in real life, which can create confusion about her online decisions. “There’s no consistency in her words and actions. When you’re a celebrity or a brand, you have to have consistency to have that credibility. I think that’s really critical to maintaining your fan base,” Su explained.
It is still unclear whether Gomez is the one behind her social media accounts. During an interview with Good morning America In April 2022, the actress revealed that she hadn’t used her Instagram in four and a half years. She hired a team to curate her posts at the time, and it’s not unlikely that the Rare Beauty founder still follows this strategy. “Judging by the number of platforms celebrities manage collectively and the type of content they have to produce, I would be very surprised if they could handle everything on their own. There are so many social media companies that specialize in social media communication and management,” Su said.
As for Gomez's social media breaks, her lack of consistency simply perpetuates an idea we already know all too well: that Instagram is highly addictive and we can't easily get away from it. But we can all find ways to take the time we need, Gomez included. As for her millions of social media followers, Gomez has a responsibility to either keep her word or be open about why she couldn't commit to an online break of more than a day.
But maybe we shouldn't turn to celebrities when deciding to change our social media habits. Instead, Su offered recommendations for determining our own healthier relationship with social media.
“I think you have to be very conscious about it. You don’t have to think, ‘I’m going to immediately take a two-week break from social media,’” she explained. “You just have to set goals and then slowly build up to them, like cutting down on Instagram by 30 minutes a day. And then, slowly, you might be able to disconnect from social media a little bit more.”
