‘Life is still good without constantly checking updates on social media’

Before Arjun Kapoor joined social media, he wasn’t a big fan of the platforms. The 32-year-old actor was “against” Twitter and Facebook, and only created an account on these social networks as a birthday present for his fans.

“I just used to think that you’re reflecting too much of your life on these public platforms. I wanted to protect that privacy and never wanted to overtly showcase my life,” says the actor, who stars in the recent release Mubarakan.

“But the fans used to ask me why I’m not on Twitter. That’s why I decided to gift them this, and on my [2014] birthday I joined social media,” says Arjun. “Since then, things have been different — the kind of love you get from your fans online is something else. And it’s not just about the fans; I can get all kinds of news and updates [from social media].”

He still guards his privacy. Arjun’s Instagram account shows him in photos mostly with co-stars or at film events; there’s very little of the person behind the fame. The actor, however, does think that he got addicted to social media quickly. “The bane of social media is that you become too dependent on your phone... You keep checking on others, and what they’re doing. It’s addictive like that,” he says.

Arjun tried some “social media detox”, and though it was hard at first, he says, “I realised that I can survive without checking [the phone]. I mean, life is still good without constantly checking updates on social media.”

Recently, I took a social media detox, and didn’t touch my phone for 48 hours. I realised how bloody dependent we’ve become ARJUN KAPOOR, ACTOR