Selena Gomez slams Instagram, calls it ‘dangerous, unhealthy’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Actress Selena Gomez attends the premiere of "The Dead Don't Die," at the Museum of Modern Art on Monday, June 10, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Pop star Selena Gomez has revealed she’s completely deleted Instagram from her phone in a bid to escape nasty trolls.
The 26-year-old — who is one of the most followed accounts on the site with 152 million fans — says she’s ditched the app for her mental health, reports The Sun.
The former Disney star said the social media site is “dangerous” and “unhealthy”, particularly for young people who spend a lot of time on it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a bid to reduce its impact on her life, Gomez has deleted the app from her mobile and uses someone else’s phone if she wants to post something.
It comes as Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said he was “disappointed” to hear Gomez had deleted the app, but also said that Gomez is not your typical Instagram user. “She has over 100 million followers, it’s a whole other world,” Mosseri said.
Speaking with US radio host Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Ripa earlier this week, Gomez said Instagram “would make me depressed.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It would make me feel not good about myself, and look at my body differently.
“I used to use it a lot but I think it’s become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend all of their time fixating on all of these comments and letting this stuff in.”
Gomez, who had a kidney transplant in 2017, previously revealed that her assistant is now in charge of her account.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The singer and actress said she would get obsessed by the trolls and negative comments on there, and it became overwhelming.
Speaking to The New York Times back in 2017, she said: “I delete the app from my phone at least once a week.
“It’s like they [the trolls] want to cut to your soul.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“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.”
That same year Gomez took a break from the spotlight to focus on her mental health while at a rehab facility, where she didn’t use her phone for 90 days.
While speaking at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Gomez said that while Instagram was a “useful” platform, she said it “scared” her how young people were so preoccupied with it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She said: “But for my generation specifically, social media has been terrible.
“It’s selfish — I don’t wanna say selfish, that’s rude — but it’s dangerous for sure.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This story originally appeared in news.com.au.