Selena Gomez announced a break from social media but almost immediately logged back on — now TikTok has thoughts

On Jan. 9, following alleged drama at the Golden Globe Awards, Selena Gomez announced that she was taking a social media break. The “Single Soon” singer made her return to social media 18 hours later with an Instagram Story to promote a cooking video she collaborated on with Gordon Ramsay. In the 18 hours that she was offline, Gomez — who is the most followed woman on Instagram, with more than 429 million followers — reportedly lost nearly 32,000 followers.

It wasn’t the first time Gomez has hit pause on her Instagram and TikTok accounts, but her latest social media hiatus — and the decision to announce it publicly — quickly became a hot topic on TikTok.

TikTok creator Maria Cecilia (@merrr_10) gave her thoughts on Gomez’s brief break. Cecilia notes that while it’s possible the Instagram Story featuring Ramsay may have been obligatory — either prescheduled or contractual — Gomez’s frequent “break” announcements, in general, are making fans weary.

“And this is no hate to Selena. You can either be online or not wanna be online, but I think when you announce it so often and come back so fast, people just stop taking you seriously anymore,” Cecilia says in a video posted on Jan. 10.

“What do we live in? This is not normal,” TikToker Cecilee Max-Brown (@cecileemax) says in response to Gomez announcing her break from socials.

A history of social media breaks

Gomez has a long, tumultuous history of stepping back from social media. According to data compiled by NoDepositFriend.com, an online casino directory, the Only Murders in the Building actress took her first known break from social media in August 2016 to focus on her health following her lupus diagnosis. That lasted 14 weeks. In 2017 and 2018, respectively, Gomez took time from Instagram after being hacked and wanting to prioritize her mental health. After a four-month hiatus in 2018, the Rare Beauty founder returned to Instagram in early 2019, and then in July 2020 revealed that she had been taking some time away from social media once again.

In 2021, despite maintaining a regular presence online, Gomez told Vogue that she’d actually been offline herself for the last three years, and that her assistant would post photos on her behalf. More recently, in February 2023, Gomez opted to distance herself from social media after being involved in TikTok drama with Hailey Bieber and Kylie Jenner. In late October 2023, however, she took another weeklong break after receiving backlash for her response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Selena’s not the only one stepping away from social media

While Gomez’s frequently announced social media breaks may be getting flak on TikTok, she’s hardly the only one who feels the need to step away from the apps. A survey conducted by YouGov in February 2023 found that over one-third of adults and 41% of 18-to-29-year-olds in the United States have taken “an extended break” from social media due to its negative impact on their mental health.

Similarly, researchers at the University of Bath in England found that a one-week break from social media could yield considerable improvements in one’s depression and anxiety. Per the BBC, some young people have even shunned social media entirely, citing the “constant negativity” on platforms like TikTok as the main reason for doing so.

‘The time you put into social media and other people is time you can use on yourself’

“I don’t believe in focusing 100% on yourself, working on yourself, while being active on socials,” TikTok creator Mariem Mezr (@prodactivewithmar) says in a video posted on TikTok in July 2023. Mezr previously took over a yearlong break from social media, during which she went on eight trips without posting about them. “The time you put into social media and other people is time you can use on yourself.”

Forgetting how amazing you are because you keep looking at everybody else, creator Jada West (@itsjadawest) explains in a TikTok video from May 2023, is one of the reasons why people could benefit from a social media detox.

“You spent way too much time looking at what everybody else is doing, seeing everybody’s trips, seeing everybody’s success, seeing the way everybody else does things ... and you forgot that you are a big deal,” West says.

Ultimately, as Gomez has said before, it’s impossible to know what’s really happening behind the lens of social media.

“My advice is everything you’re looking at is 90% fake and you have no idea what’s behind a photo, and you have no idea what’s actually going on,” Gomez said in a 2023 interview. “All you have is who you are. Take breaks and just enjoy what’s actually around you.”