Meghan Markle warns against social media use at Fortune virtual summit

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, stays off social media for "self-preservation".

The 39-year-old royal shut down her personal social media accounts when she embarked on her romance with her husband, Prince Harry, and joined the royal family after their May 2018 wedding.

And now, Meghan - who, along with Harry, stepped down as a senior member of the royal family earlier this year - has said she decided to stay away from sites like Twitter and Instagram in order to keep herself and her family safe.

She said: "For my own self-preservation, I have not been on social media for a very long time. I had a personal account years ago, which I closed down and then we had one through the institution and our office that was in the U.K. that wasn't managed by us - that was a whole team - and so I think that comes with the territory for the job you have."

Meghan Markle reveals why she has decided to stay off social media. Photo / Fortune

The former 'Suits' star - who has 17-month-old son Archie with Harry - also said she "has concerns" for people who are "obsessed" with social media, and thinks it's for the best that she doesn't know what people are saying about her online.

Speaking to Fortune during the 'Most Powerful Next Gen Summit', she explained: "I've made a personal choice to not have any account, so I don't know what's out there, and in many ways that's helpful for me. I have a lot of concerns for people that have become obsessed with it. And it is so much a part of our daily culture for so many people that it's an addiction like many others. There are very few things in this world where you call the person who is engaging with it a user."

Meanwhile, Meghan recently revealed she "meditates" to cope with internet trolls, after receiving so much hate from people after marrying Prince Harry.

She said: "I'm told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the entire world - male or female. Now for eight months of that, I wasn't even visible. I was on maternity leave or with the baby, but what was able to be just manufactured and churned out, it's almost unsurvivable ... I don't care if you are 15 or 25, if people are saying things about you that aren't true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is damaging. Meditation is key. I never thought that I would be the person to do that. Journaling is a very powerful thing. It allows me to reflect on where I've come from."