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Selena Gomez deletes Instagram, citing mental health impact

Posted at 1:24 PM, Jun 13, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-13 15:24:34-04

(CNN) — Selena Gomez is Instagram’s third-most followed celebrity, but after she said noticed the negative impact the social media platform had on her mental health, she removed it from her phone.

Gomez surprised Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in a Wednesday appearance on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” when she admitted she doesn’t even have the app.

She told the hosts she used to interact with her 152 million followers frequently, but negative comments eroded her confidence and made her feel “depressed.”

“I used to [use Instagram] a lot, but I think it’s just 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,” she said.

To ignore bullies and body shamers, she says keeps her account on someone else’s phone and only logs in when she wants to share something with her fans.

Gomez regularly speaks out against the “dangerous” effects of social media on younger people. In an interview at Cannes Film Festival in May, the actress warned it was “impossible” to make the platforms safer for users targeted by bullying.

“I think our world is going through a lot, obviously. But for my generation, specifically, social media has been terrible.”