“I don’t think you can be a star and be that available.”

13 celebrities who avoid social media

“I don’t think you can be a star and be that available.”

By Louis Peitzman

August 10, 2026 12:00 p.m. ET

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Mikey Madison, Eddie Murphy, Daniel Radcliffe: proud social media holdouts all. Credit:

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty; Etienne Laurent / AFP via Getty; Paul Mobley/NBC via Getty

There was a time when celebrities on social media could really make waves. Remember when Ellen DeGeneres posted a live selfie from the Oscars that broke Twitter?

But alas, it’s not 2014 anymore. In 2026, Twitter isn’t even Twitter, having rebranded as X in 2023 after Elon Musk bought the company. More broadly, social media habits have changed, with countless trend pieces emerging about why more and more Americans are leaving these apps behind.

Kicking X and Instagram to the curb isn’t just popular among normies, of course — plenty of big-name celebrities have abandoned social media in recent years as well. Many have pointed to the toxicity that runs rampant on these platforms, with others stepping back to curb the time-suck of endless scrolling. Rarer still are the stars who have resisted the lure of posting and never dabbled at all.

We’ve scoured the internet to pull together a list of 13 celebs who avoid social media altogether, along with their reasons for staying unplugged. Read on to discover why several of the most notable A-listers remain comfortably off the grid.

George Clooney

George Clooney hanging out at the Olympics in Milan instead of posting on social media.

Mike Marsland/Getty

For an actor as famous — and famously outspoken — as George Clooney, *not *posting online won’t go unnoticed. The Oscar-winning actor has been asked about it repeatedly, and while his responses have been candid, the gentle prodding hasn’t changed his mind.

“I don’t think you can be a star and be that available,” he told *The Washington Post* in 2022, while confessing that he’d be worried about getting into trouble based on what he might post “if I have three drinks at night.”

That might sound like a joke, but it’s not the only time Clooney has pointed out the dangers of drinking and posting. (Even non-celebrities can take that caution to heart.)

“I’m not on Twitter or Instagram [because] I drink,” he said at a BFI screening of *Jay Kelly*. “You know, 3 a.m., my Mother Teresa joke might not play so well when I wake up the next day.”

Olivia Colman

Olivia Colman working the 2026 Disney Upfront instead of posting on social media.

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty

One of the drawbacks of celebrities not being on social media is that they can’t do much to combat their online impersonators. That doesn’t seem to bother Olivia Colman, though.

“Apparently there are people who are [pretending] to be me, but I don’t have it, so I can’t see it,” she told Sky News in 2024.

Like several other actors on this list, Colman thinks steering clear of social media is a simple way to avoid inadvertently seeing negative reactions to work she cares about.

“I’m not brave enough. I know it would hurt. I’m not very thick-skinned, and so I don’t want to know. I would rather pretend that no one ever sees a film that we make, actually,” Colman said. “We really hope to do something to make people enjoy it. So, when people go, ‘Oh, I don’t like it,’ it does hurt, because a lot of effort goes into something.”

Jon Hamm on the red carpet for ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ instead of posting on social media.

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty

Even though he occasionally goes viral on TikTok, you won’t find Jon Hamm himself on social media — at least not publicly.

In a 2017 *InStyle* interview, the *Mad Men* star admitted to having a private Instagram account that he uses to follow photographers and artists, but he’s never posted anything. In fact, he did not mince words about social media.

“The point of life is not to put dog ears on yourself and post it online for everyone to see,” Hamm told the magazine. “It’s fun, it’s adorable, but it’s the visual equivalent of masturbating — there’s no point other than immediate gratification.”

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson being Scarlett Johansson at CinemaCon, instead of posting on social media.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

You’ve never seen Scarlett Johansson on Instagram, but she did quietly use it once — for three harrowing days. In a 2023 appearance on the podcast *The Skinny Confidential Him & Her*, she recalled doing a deep dive on a stranger’s page and becoming surprisingly invested in their life.

“I felt so bad, like I was missing out on this random person’s life,” she admitted. “I can’t do this. I’m too fragile, I have too much anxiety about other things.”

In a 2025 *InStyle* cover story, Johansson revealed that she had been asked to join Instagram by Universal to help promote *Jurassic World Rebirth*, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She’d previously felt pressure to join in support of her clean-beauty company, The Outset, which launched in 2022.

“I got close enough to talk to my therapist about it. I was like, ‘I guess this is something I need to do. But it goes against my core values,’” she said. “‘Is there a way I could do this and stay true to who I am?’ It didn’t feel like I could.”

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Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley attending Milan Fashion Week in 2025 instead of posting on social media.

Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty

Like others on this list, Keira Knightley briefly gave social media a try, starting up an X account back when it was still called Twitter. In a 2014 appearance on *The Jonathan Ross Show*, she revealed why she didn’t last long.

“I did actually join Twitter for about 12 hours ‘cause I tried to be down with the kids and it just creeped me out,” Knightley confessed. “I didn’t post anything and I was under a false name and I think because Chloë [Grace Moretz] followed me, suddenly all these people started following me and posting, ‘I’m having a cup of tea now,’ and I just got completely freaked out.”

Now, the actress’ distaste for these platforms has extended to how she raises her children. In a 2025 interview with BBC Radio 4, she said she’d banned social media in her home in order to protect her young daughters, Delilah and Edie.

“I find it very terrifying because they’re unregulated spaces. And I think for children, unregulated spaces are ones I want to protect them from,” Knightley said. “They’re not allowed on devices if we can’t see what they’re looking at.”

Mikey Madison

Mikey Madison attending the 2026 Oscars instead of posting on social media.

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty

At 27, Mikey Madison is squarely in the generation that grew up with social media, so it might be a bit surprising to learn that she’s very much the exception to the rule. She has no official accounts, telling *Bustle* in 2024 that she’s resisted the pressure to sign up: “I’m very stubborn, and so I will *never*.”

The Oscar winner elaborated, explaining that being on social media has never felt “authentic or natural” to her and that she doesn’t believe she’d have much to add to the conversation.

“I’m a very sensitive person, so I think it’s also protective to not be online. I don’t think you’re supposed to be reading the things people are saying about you. I think that *that’s* not natural, and it’s not human to be looking at all of these very curated images.”

As of publication, Madison appears to have stuck to her promise — and it’s unlikely starring in *The Social Reckoning* will inspire her to spend any more time online.

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy getting an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award instead of posting on social media.

Etienne Laurent / AFP via Getty

It’s not only social media that Eddie Murphy avoids. Back in 2016, the star told *The Hollywood Reporter* that he didn’t even have a computer or email, in part to avoid reading articles about himself.

Perhaps that policy has changed in the decade since, but Murphy appears to remain absent from platforms like X and Instagram. At the time of his *THR* interview, he was very clear about his resistance to posting.

“I don’t need to be on social media interacting with the fans, tweeting that I just ate strawberries. Nothing has made me go, ‘Oh, yeah, get me on, too, I want to be on there with y’all! I just had strawberries too!’ ‘I’m going to the store now!’ ‘Look at this picture of this baby!’” Murphy said. “I don’t feel any pressure to live up to any whatever — expectation — anyone may have.”

Chris Pine attending the Sundance Film Festival in 2026 instead of posting on social media.

Mat Hayward/Getty

These days, you’ll find plenty of people, famous and otherwise, warning against the way we give up our privacy online without a second thought. Chris Pine was an early critic of social media platforms for that very reason, raising concerns back in 2014.

“With Facebook and Twitter, everyone wants to publicize their innermost truths. In 2014 we are seeing the true dissolution of public and private,” he told *USA Today* at the time. “Privacy is not as guaranteed, is not as respected, cherished or desired as it once [was].”

Even while acknowledging some of the benefits of social media, Pine reiterated, “I just don’t have any interest in it.” Twelve years later, he appears to have stuck to his guns.

Brad Pitt attending the premiere of ‘F1’ instead of posting on social media.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

If you think you’re interacting with Brad Pitt online, beware: Scammers are impersonating the social media-shy star to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from fans.

The real Pitt, meanwhile, has been resolute about staying offline. “Listen, I see a benefit in it. You could, you know, combat the misconceptions or the misquotes immediately. And if I’d have had that in my younger days, I’d have used it,” he explained in a 2014 interview with British *GQ*. “But now, at this point, I don’t want to bother with it.”

According to *In Touch Weekly*, that reportedly remains as true as ever. “He still cringes at the idea of joining Instagram or TikTok,” an insider told the outlet in May 2026. “It’s a line he isn’t willing to cross.”

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe starring in his new NBC show instead of posting on social media.

Paul Mobley/NBC via Getty

As a former child star who grew up in the public eye, Daniel Radcliffe learned early on about the downsides of reading what strangers say about you online. That’s a key reason why he has been resolute about not joining social media.

Back in his 2020 appearance on *Hot Ones*, he told host Sean Evans that he debated starting a Twitter account but ultimately decided against it.

“I would love to say there’s some sort of intellectual, well-thought-out reason for this because I considered getting a Twitter and I 100 percent know that if I did, you all would be waking up to stories like, ‘Dan Radcliffe gets into fight with random person on Twitter,’” he said.

Radcliffe may have been joking around, but he was honest about the fact that reading mean comments about himself when he was younger had a negative effect on his mental health. Joining social media, he said, would have felt like “an extension of that.”

He hasn’t changed his mind. In a 2026 *Rolling Stone* interview, the actor conceded that he spends some time online, but never on any of the popular posting platforms.

“I’m not on Instagram. I’m not on any of the Twitter versions that exist. I don’t know how anyone does it,” Radcliffe told the magazine. “Honestly, it seems so stressful. I’m stressed enough. I don’t think that would do wonders for my mental health.”

Saoirse Ronan

Saiorse Ronan hanging out in Avignon, France, instead of posting on social media.

Antoine Flament/Getty

Saoirse Ronan hasn’t always been off social media. In fact, she joined Twitter in 2009 at the encouragement of actor Stephen Fry. By the time she spoke to *TheWrap* in 2018, however, she’d left the platform behind.

“It’s too much work for me and too stressful. I’ve developed a kind of distant relationship with my phone and technology over the last couple of years,” she explained. “Self-promotion has always made me feel really uncomfortable.”

More recently, Ronan told *Elle*, “I like that people don’t know my business. I just fundamentally believe that they don’t need to.”

Growing up at a time just before the explosion of social media has helped her put less stock in posting. At the same time, she conceded that her lack of an online presence has kept her from certain jobs.

“I’ve been in audition rooms where I haven’t gotten a role because I didn’t have enough Twitter followers or whatever,” Ronan said. “And in the end, I was like, ‘Okay, well, I don’t want to be in a movie like that, anyway.’”

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart attending an art show in New York City in 2025 instead of posting on social media.

Cindy Ord/WireImage

Some celebrities can’t fully resist social media, but choose to keep their accounts away from fans’ prying eyes. While it’s not clear whether Kristen Stewart currently uses any platforms, she has admitted to maintaining a private Instagram in the past.

Nevertheless, she explained in 2017 that she was generally not a fan of online communication.

“When you speak to someone on the phone, that is a decipherable, understandable exchange,” Stewart told *V Magazine*. “But with text and social media, it’s essentially a dialogue with yourself and your interpretation of a shadow. It’s not invalid; it’s a new language.”

She had expressed similar views the year before. At a New York Film Festival screening of *Personal Shopper* in 2016, she acknowledged that her social media views made her sound like an “older person.”

“We think we have more control over that now than we’ve ever had because we have it in our hands, but we have none,” Stewart said. “You’re totally alone when you’re doing it, and it gives you this false impression that you’re connecting or something.”

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Alicia Vikander

Alicia Vikander visiting New York City in 2026 instead of posting on social media.

John Nacion/WWD via Getty

Give Alicia Vikander credit for trying — she lasted a full month on Instagram. That’s longer than many of her fellow social media-shy celebs.

“I realized early on that social media was not good for me,” the Oscar winner explained to *Harper’s Bazaar* in 2019. “I personally didn’t find the joy in it.”

As the article notes, Vikander’s refusal to post also helps her maintain the privacy she has valued throughout her career. Outside of the movies they make, she and husband Michael Fassbender prefer to keep a low profile — and he has similarly maintained little to no public social media presence.

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