Can any of us really ever ‘log off’ from social media? As Selena Gomez is criticized for her approach, an expert explains how to do it right

Selena Gomez is one of the most popular celebrities on Instagram, in part because of her relatability: she’s both chronically online and highly aware of how emotionally draining social media can be.

Gomez, who recently became a billionaire, has always been vocal about when she takes a step back from Instagram and her 424m followers. Although it meant she was mocked mercilessly online after she announced her Instagram departure in January, before returning to posting less than 24 hours later.

But now she’s revealed that she won’t be announcing her social media breaks anymore.

“I learned not to say that anymore,” she told Vanity Fair this month. The Only Murders in the Building star was even on a social media break at the time of the interview. She then added that she was “loving” 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 had a break in a little bit. So I feel good,” Gomez explained.

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Although her Instagram breaks have been short and sweet, she previously took one that lasted for four years. “I let my team post for me for those years,” she said at the Time100 Summit in April. “I felt like it was the most rewarding gift I gave myself. I think people, especially young kids, it’s - 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 also acknowledged that she was “happier” and more “present” in her life during her lengthy Instagram break, which she took from 2017 to 2022.

While there are a number of reasons why someone would 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 mental health journey.

According to the Disney Channel alum, she first experienced worrying symptoms in her early twenties, when she began to feel like she was not in control of her own emotions. By 2018, Gomez’s symptoms heightened and she was checked into a mental health facility, where she was officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness that causes “unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, activity levels, and concentration,” per the National Institutes of Health.

“It would start with depression, then it would go into isolation,” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2021. “Then it just was me not being able to move from my bed. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me.”

Although Gomez is now done announcing when she logs off, that honesty with fans about her Instagram habits helps others know they can take a break too.

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Speaking to The Independent, Chiaoning Su, PhD, a professor in communications at Oakland University, acknowledged that although Gomez’s social media breaks were short, it doesn’t mean that even a little space from Instagram is unhelpful.

“There is a very clear correlation between heavy social media usage, increasing anxiety, and sleep deprivation,” she said. “To take a step back and to announce the social media detox, I think it’s a very positive sign to say that she does care about her mental health. And that could be something for the younger generation to look up to and to follow her lead.”

In a 2018 survey of 1,000 individuals who stated they were quitting 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 go offline, you don’t need to announce your break. For some, it can be quite frustrating to see someone like the Wizards of Waverly Place alum, who’s gained so much trust from her fans, seemingly back out of her decision — and this behavior may create misconceptions about the benefits of a social media hiatus, warns Su.

“Everything she’s doing with social media is something that we pay attention to, right? Because she’s so iconic on social media,” Su said. “For her to announce that she’s going to step back for a while, to have that social detox and then come back so quickly, I think that in some way ridicules the idea of breaking away from social media – which is actually bad, because having this break from social media could be really positive for the general public.”

Gomez publicly took a break from the app in January after addressing speculation that she and bestie Taylor Swift were gossiping about Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet at the 2024 Golden Globes. Just one day after announcing her break, however, she made her return to Instagram to promote her cooking video with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Back in October, she expressed how the internet was affecting her mental health due to “all of the horror, hate, violence and terror that’s going on in the world” and that she would be taking another break from the apps.

The social media break was relatively short-lived, as she made her return to Instagram less than two weeks later, with photos of herself in the kitchen of Moo’s Craft Barbecue.

But being honest about those breaks — and then failing in them — also meant Selena was opening herself up to criticism every time she announced a new one. Unsurprisingly, many people went to X (formerly Twitter) to mock Gomez for going back online so quickly in January.

“Her thinking sleeping in the night is considered taking a break of social media too,” one person quipped, while another wrote: “Every time I get on Instagram, Selena Gomez has posted something else to her story. Girl, stop saying you’re taking a break.”

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“@selenagomez playing hide and seek with Instagram like, ‘Just kidding, I’m back!’” someone else posted. “Guess social media break lasted about as long as my New Year’s resolutions! Welcome back #InstagramWhirlwind.”

Gomez has always been candid about her emotional well-being, from running her Wondermind website with expert-backed mental health content, to filming a documentary about her lupus and bipolar disorder, titled Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. That honesty resonates with fans, even if they don’t know her IRL, which can create confusion about her decisions online. “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 it’s really everything for you to keep your fan base,” Su explained.

Still, it’s unclear if Gomez is the one behind her social media accounts. During an interview with Good Morning America in April 2022, the actor 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 is still abiding by this strategy. “Judging from how many platforms celebrities manage altogether and the kind of content they have to produce, I would be very surprised if they can manage everything just on their own. There are so many social media companies out there that specialize in social media communication and management,” Su said.

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For Gomez’s social media breaks, her lack of consistency simply perpetuates an idea that we already know quite well: that Instagram is highly addictive and we can’t easily get away from it. But we can all find ways to take the necessary space from it, 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 hiatus for more than a day.

But maybe we shouldn’t be turning to celebrities at all when we decide to change our own social media habits. Instead, Su gave recommendations for figuring out your own healthier relationship with social media.

“I think you need to be very conscious about it. Don’t be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to immediately take a two-week social media break,’” she explained. “Just set goals and then baby steps, like maybe reducing Instagram usage by 30 minutes per day. And then slowly and gradually, you might be able to disconnect yourself a little bit more from social media.”