Amandla Stenberg discarded her iPhone to "preserve [her] mental health".
The 18-year-old actress has admitted she no longer has a smartphone with which she can connect to the internet, as she believes the constant connection to social media was having a negative impact on her mental health.
She said: "Amid all of the chaos in the world right now, it’s so important that everyone actively works to preserve their mental health so that we’re able to heal and create change. I got rid of my iPhone, and that was essential in preserving my mental health."
Instead, the ‘Hunger Games’ actress now uses a flip phone which allows her to hear the "actual voices" of friends and family as she has to interact via phone call.
And Amandla isn’t just worried about her own mental health, as she says she hates to see "really unhappy" young people who feel "disconnected from reality" because they spend too much time on social media.
She added: "I’m worried about the mental health effects of smartphones and social media on kids because it is one large social experiment that we don’t know the outcome of. I see a lot of people around my age who are really unhappy or experiencing disconnection from reality because they base so much of their existence on the internet and on their interactions with people they might not even know. It creates such unreal expectations for what we think our lives should be."
The ‘As You Are’ actress also wants to "stand tall" in the face of adversity and show the world she is "comfortable in [her] skin", in order to encourage others to do the same.
Speaking to Teen Vogue magazine, the brunette beauty said: "I feel like now is the time to stand tall and feel 100 percent comfortable in my skin even though I’m occupying a space that I know historically wasn’t built for me."
Amandla Stenberg discarded phone for mental health
