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'Constant comparing can be so damaging': Elle Fanning tries to keep her social media usage 'healthy'

'Constant comparing can be so damaging': Elle Fanning tries to keep her social media usage 'healthy'
Elle Fanning tries to keep her social media usage "healthy" but she "can't help" falling down "the rabbit hole" sometimes.
PHOTO: Instagram/Elle Fanning

Elle Fanning tries to keep her social media usage "healthy" but she "can't help" falling down "the rabbit hole" sometimes.

The 26-year-old Hollywood actress admits the only platform she uses is Instagram and she tries to make sure her feed remains a "light place", but she regularly finds she can't resist comparing herself to others.

She told the Guardian newspaper: "I try to keep it healthy. I only have Instagram, but I look at it a lot. I think the comparing culture of that can be a crazy rabbit hole to go down. The doom-scrolling, and everything ... [I want to keep it a] light place.

"But, of course, you inevitably can't help but fall into the hole sometimes, of comparing yourself to others and all these filtered images."

Elle went on to admit she's fairly baffled by the videos which pop up on her Instagram feed, saying: "It's someone who rolls glasses down stairs, and there are marbles in there. It's like, 'Oh, is that one gonna break, or is that one gonna break? What is that?' ...

"I mean, seriously, I don't know. I also get rug cleaners. These rugs that are filled with mud and it's just someone power-washing them ... I've never done it. But I like watching it, apparently."

Elle previously admitted she worries about the images of "unattainable beauty" on Instagram and she believes the constant exposure to "fake" imagery is taking a toll on young people's mental health.

She told the i newspaper: "Social media is even more of a thing now than it was then. The comparative nature of it, the striving towards certain beauty standards … I'm still on Instagram all the time, looking at all these images of other girls and comparing myself.

"A lot of these images are fake, doctored or very well curated, so you can go down this rabbit hole of unattainable beauty, trending body shapes, what's in and out of style.

"That constant comparing can be so damaging to young people and their mental health."

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