Jennifer Aniston Had Once Confessed She "Hates" Social Media Saying "It's Torture For Me"

Jennifer Aniston caused an Instagram meltdown when she joined the platform in 2019, the Just Go With It actress has over 45.1 million followers on her page. However, Aniston confessed she "hates" sharing her presence online while appearing on the cover of Allure magazine in December 2022. "I hate social media. I'm not good at it," she revealed. "It's torture for me. The reason I went on Instagram was to launch this [haircare] line [LolaVie]. Then the pandemic hit and we didn't launch. So I was just stuck with being on Instagram. It doesn't come naturally." 

As per People, Aniston explained that she was the "most reluctant person to ever" join the social media bandwagon and only did so because she "got tired" of people pressuring her. The Break-Up actress set a record by acquiring one million followers in less than five hours after joining the platform. She expressed her gratitude to experience a phase without the constant adulations, "I'm really happy that we got to experience growing up, being a teenager, being in our 20s without this social media aspect," said Aniston. "Look, the internet, great intentions, right? Connect people socially, social networking. It goes back to how young girls feel about themselves, compare and despair."

Aniston stated in 2015 that social media made her feel "stressed out." Concerning the impact social media is having on the younger generation, she added, she was concerned. "Kids aren't speaking to each other anymore," she said at the time. "I was with friends of ours from Vermont and their two kids don't have an iPhone or an iPad. They were 9 and 12 and were the most interesting young adults. Seeing other kids on their [phones] all the time, it makes me sad." Aniston shared her response to forcing a brief outage on Instagram following the release of a selfie she took with her Friends co-stars in December 2019."I have no idea how that happened. There is no more shocked face I could use. I'll also say I was very flattered," she said at the time.

Despite her initial reservations, Aniston continued, that she was loving her "new creative outlet that I have" with social media. Regarding her choice to enlist, she stated, "Just because why not? If you can't beat them, join them." "A lot of my friends were beginning to do it and I didn't want to be that person that was left in the sandbox with her arms crossed going like, 'No! I'm not going to play.' So it's fun," said Aniston, "but, boy, there's also a lot of emotionally moving messages." As per Variety, Aniston stated that fame is now universal because of social media platforms, “Whoa. Oh, that just gave me chills,” she responded. “I’m a little choked up. I feel like it’s dying. There are no more movie stars. There’s no more glamour. Even the Oscar parties used to be so fun.”

Attributing the success of her hit sitcom Friends with the absence of social media she said, “There are people who say that watching ‘Friends’ has saved them during cancer diagnosis, or so many people with just so much gratitude for a little show,” Aniston said. “We really loved each other and we took care of each other. I don’t know why it still resonates; there are no iPhones. It’s just people talking to each other. Nobody talks to each other anymore.”