Just a few months ago, scientists revealed that the “regular use of social networking can negatively affect your emotional wellbeing and satisfaction with life” – and we don’t doubt it. After all, maintaining that aura of ‘perfection’ takes a great deal of effort, scrolling through your news feed can spark feelings of envy and FOMO, and having so much of your life on show can feel a little overwhelming at times.

Worse still, though, is the incessant bullying and trolling that occurs online.

This is true even for celebrities who are used to being in the spotlight. And now Mila Kunis has confirmed that she has taken a step back from social media, in a bid to remove the ‘ugliness’ from her life in 2018.

Read more: Psychologists reveal four ways to avoid social media induced depression

Broaching the topic of social media, Kunis admitted that she used to really enjoy using it – particularly as it offered her a way to reconnect with her old friend and That 70s Show co-star, Ashton Kutcher (now her husband).

She told Cosmopolitan magazine: “I was so late to that train. I remember at some point my roommate was like, ‘You know, there’s a thing called Facebook,’ and I was like, ‘What is this Facebook? Who’s gonna poke each other? That’s just weird.’

“And then Ashton [Kutcher] and I reconnected and started talking. He used to be incredibly forward-thinking with social media, when the intent was to connect to people.”

However, Kunis soon noticed a change in internet behaviour – and now never uses sites like Facebook and Instagram because she hates how the platforms have become “all about who can be the loudest, who can be the angriest and the most negative”.

“It took an ugly turn and became all about who can be the loudest, who can be the angriest and the most negative,” she said.

“Then it’s just not a fun game to play.”

Kunis is not the only celebrity to have taken a break from social media: in 2017, Anne Hathaway said that she would be temporarily pausing her use of social media apps in a bid to increase her ‘positivity’.

“2016 was marked by many difficult moments and there were many corresponding reactions,” she wrote on Instagram, alongside an image of a flickering candle. “As we go into a new year full of new opportunities, please remember that anger is a depot and not the train, so don’t let it be your whole journey.

“Let’s all trust deeper and love freer and light the way the best we are able into 2017. Love, light, peace.”

A postscript added to the post read simply: “I wanted to let you know I am taking a pause from Instagram and Facebook. Until next we meet.”

That same year saw Gigi Hadid announce that she had made the “empowering” decision to switch off from social media, too.

“I’m taking a month off, actually, during the New Year,” explained the model, while hosting an empowerment panel with Lena Dunham, Ruby Rose, Aly Raisman, and Zoe Kravitz.

“I’m not deleting my account, I’m just taking the apps off my phone.”

Hadid went on to explain that she hopes the majority of her fans will support her decision to take a step back – but she also had a strong message to those who feel ‘upset’ by it.

“A lot of the world feels so entitled to other peoples’ lives, which is so crazy,” she said. “I’m going to take a break when I feel like it, and when I come back and share it with you, if you want to be supportive and still follow me, that’s great. But, if you’re going to be upset that I need to be human for a month, than maybe I don’t want your follow anyway.”

If you are considering a digital detox, be sure to read what happened when digi-addict Jamie Klingler decided to consciously uncouple from social media.

We also have a digital detox plan on standby, which promises to help you to weed out the most energy sapping aspects of a life plugged-in, without going totally off the grid.

Image: Getty