Selena Gomez has amassed millions of followers on social media — at one point, her social media presence was massive, and she was very, very active on her platforms. But now, she’s candidly opening up about how much the whole social media scene affected her life.
In an interview with InStyle, the 29-year-old singer and actress revealed that in her younger years, social media had such a tight grip on her that it affected her self-esteem, her emotions, how she viewed herself. She said:
“At one point Instagram became my whole world, and it was really dangerous. In my early 20s, I felt like I wasn’t pretty enough. There was a whole period in my life when I thought I needed makeup and never wanted to be seen without it.”
She stated that now that she’s older, her perspective has definitely changed:
“The older I got, the more I evolved and realized that I needed to take control of what I was feeling. I wanted to be able to look in the mirror and feel confident to be who I am.”
What helped her gain a better outlook was taking a break from the social media scene, which she credits as being the best decision for her mental health. Selena shared:
“[It] was the best decision that I’ve ever made for my mental health. I created a system where I still don’t have my passwords. And the unnecessary hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down.
I’ll have moments where that weird feeling will come back, but now I have a much better relationship with myself.”
And now, she’s struck a good balance and recalibrated her views on social media, transforming it from a dangerous obsession to something more positive:
“I became aware that my little world is complicated, but the picture is much bigger than the stuff I deal with. I have problems with depression and anxiety, and I found it difficult for me to be me. I didn’t want to post anything on social media because I realized that I was in a situation where I was extremely blessed.
What could I possibly post or say? Then I had the idea of inviting multiple people to be on my Instagram to tell their stories.”
And now that she’s valuing her mental health more than ever, she’s also committed to de-stigmatizing it so that others will be encouraged to feel that what they’re going through is okay and face it all head on:
“Changing the narrative of mental health and changing a curriculum that hopefully can be implemented in schools or a system for resources that are easily available. I’m just so passionate about that, and I think I will continue to be for the rest of my life. Especially since the pandemic, there are so many people I know who craved help but had no idea how to get it.
I have big aspirations for that field and really want to implement more education behind it.”
