Harry Styles is “not super-active on social media” because he’s “introspective enough” to know what “feels good”.

The former One Direction star has an Instagram account but he rarely updates it and his updates tends to be focused on his music releases or tour dates – and now his sister Gemma Styles has explained why the singer doesn’t use the platform more.

She told The Times newspaper: “I think H is a really good example actually of someone who has been introspective enough about their own social media use to know what feels good and what doesn’t.

“He’s not super-active on social media. And that seems to work for him the best at the moment.”

She added of social media usage: “Be intentional about what you’re consuming. We talk about algorithms a lot now, but if there are things that you’re following that are making you feel rubbish, you don’t have to follow them.”

Gemma added that she disappeared from social media for “months” during her pregnancy.

The writer welcomed her first child – a daughter – with her partner Michal Miynowsk and broke the news to fans in February after keeping her pregnancy a secret.

She went on to explain she decided to keep the news quiet because she wanted her little girl to be “safe and protected”.

When one user asked her during an Instagram Story Q and A why she opted not to share her pregnancy news, she explained: “To be honest it was a mixture of things, some more personal and some less so.

“I wanted to wait until after some later scans but thought there was no way I was going to get through the last [ of Harry’s] ‘Love On Tour’ shows without seeing my bump so that would be it … but turns out I managed to keep it under wraps and eventually I was like, I think I can make it to the end?

“And that felt like the right decision for us.”

Responding to a comment from a follower who praised her for her efforts to keep the personal news private, she replied: “Thank you, I appreciate that! “I don’t know if I’ll always feel the same about it but essentially giving out information online it’s like … you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, you know?”

She added: “I’ve never done this before; I don’t know what she would want and we want to keep her safe and protected. I know lots of people keep their kids’ faces/names/details off social media and there are some great reasons for that, we’ll figure it out in our own time.

“I really appreciate all the supportive messages checking in on how we are, it’s so nice that people care – we’re good!”