At the 2024 TIME 100 Summit in New York City, the 'Calm Down' songstress opens up about her ups and downs with the platform, admitting that she's happier when taking a break from social media.
- Apr 25, 2024
AceShowbiz - Being the most-followed woman on Instagram, Selena Gomez doesn't always find it easy navigating life in the cyber community. In fact, the singer/actress has had a love and hate relationship with the platform, marked by her numerous breaks from social media in the past few years.
At the 2024 TIME 100 Summit in New York City on Wednesday, April 24, the 31-year-old admitted that she can become "mouthy" on Instagram when she wants to defend the persons that she cares about. Opening up about her relationship with social media, she said, "I find it frustrating. Then I get a little mouthy and I want to defend the people I love."
Selena, who has 429 million followers on Instagram, went on sharing about her ups and downs with the platform, "I took four years off of Instagram, and I let my team post for me for those years. I felt like it was the most rewarding gift I gave myself."
"I think people especially young kids, you're sitting there so focused on what looks wonderful when everything that's meant to be wonderful to you is not from here," she said, before revealing the benefits of taking a break from the application, "And I was more present. I was happier."
The former Disney darling explaned, "I would actually get real phone calls about people telling me about their story and I could actually hear it instead of going, 'Oh I already know what you did today.' It's like it's more human." She added, "It's just, I think it's important to take breaks. So I try to. I don't really pay much attention. You know, I'll just do things here and there."
During the event, Selena also talked about her mental health. "All these confusing things were happening," she said of how it was before she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. "Once I finally found the answer, it wasn't 'Oh, I have this problem.' It actually made me feel better to know and understand what was happening in my mind."
The "Only Murders in the Building" actress said the most important thing she does for her own mental health is to seek out alone time. "Once you start to share a tiny bit, you just realize how much less alone you are and how so many of us are more alike than we are different," she divulged.
