Dua Lipa has said that social media “can be a breeding ground for hate and anxiety” as she discussed coming away from it for a while.
The singer-songwriter said that she has had to learn to stop relying on social media as she grew up with it and it was always “fun”, but that recently she has noticed that it has the potential to be less enjoyable.
She said she tries to take regular breaks away from the online world, despite feeling like she needs to use it constantly for her job as a global music star.
Lipa, 24, told Zoe Ball on her Radio 2 Breakfast Show: “Social media is so amazing, it’s such an incredible tool and really brings people together and it helps me have such a personal relationship with listeners.
“But I think at times it can almost be too much, regardless of what you do, or how old you are, or just I think in general it can be a breeding ground for hate and anxiety.
“I feel that it’s definitely important to be able to take a little bit of time away and to step away from it and just enjoy life without social media because you realise how much of it really isn’t real.”
Lipa, who has more than 35 million followers on Instagram and a further 3.5 million followers on Twitter, said that taking time away from it “brings you back into reality and also makes you enjoy it more when you do go back on”.
She added: “I always say ‘In bite sizes’ – I feel that I had to learn how to do that sometimes, it’s really hard because I felt that if I wasn’t constantly active that it wouldn’t be good for me and it wouldn’t be good for my job or whatever.
“I guess I just carried on using social media the way I started it because I’ve grown up with it so it was always just fun for me.
“The second it stopped being fun for a couple of days, I need to take some time away and come back and post again as and when I want and how I’d like to, so I think it’s important.”