Celebrity
Selena Gomez Says Not Using The Internet Has “Changed My Life Completely”
The singer, who also sees a therapist, admitted she hasn’t been online in more than four years.
Selena Gomez is one of the most-followed people on social media, but don’t count on her following you back. In an April 4 interview with Good Morning America, Gomez said she hasn’t used the internet in years and that her well-being has only improved. “I haven’t been on the internet in four-and-a-half years,” the Only Murders in the Building star said. “It has changed my life completely. I am happier, I am more present. I connect more with people. It makes me feel normal.”
This might sound surprising coming from the fifth most-followed person on Instagram, but the singer revealed three years ago that she doesn’t even have Instagram installed on her phone. “I think it’s just become really unhealthy,” Gomez said on Live With Kelly & Ryan in 2019. “To spend time fixating on all these comments and letting this stuff in, it was affecting me. It would make me depressed. It would make me feel not good about myself, and look at my body differently.”
Gomez has been open about her mental health over the years, publicly disclosing her bipolar diagnosis in March 2020 on Miley Cyrus’ Instagram Live talk show.
Minimizing internet use isn’t the only way that Gomez is taking care of her mental health. She also sees a therapist and uses dialectical behavior therapy, a type of psychotherapy. “I have tons of workbooks, like a nerd, but I love DBT ... I have notebooks that kind of help me do that,” she said.
Music is another important outlet for her, as seen on her revealing 2020 album, Rare. “I try to take what’s going on and turn it into something beautiful in the best way that I can,” she said. “When I have moments in a studio and create something from a place of, I don’t know, happiness, or sadness or grieving something, it’s such a safe place for me.”
Now, she’s using her experiences to launch Wondermind, a platform that will allow users to access affordable resources and discuss mental health with each other, alongside her mother, Mandy Teefey, and Daniella Pierson. “I understand that feeling of having no one and it’s pure, it’s just sadness, and I know what that feels like,” she said. “But that’s what we’re trying to do here. We want there to be a community and a space for people to feel like they’re OK, that they’re not alone.”
