Beer, vaping and scrolling: my bad habits make me feel good. What do I do?

‘The ambient pressure to be better, always insidious, is especially acute at the start of a new year.’ Illustration: Rita Liu/The Guardian

Between her 430 million Instagram followers, reported $800m net worth and close friendship with Taylor Swift, it’s rare that I feel a kinship with pop star Selena Gomez. But 11 days into the new year, a headline makes me wince in recognition: “Selena Gomez is back on Instagram, 18 hours after announcing a social media break.”

I’ve been feeling especially conscious of my bad habits – possibly because a depressing body of evidence suggests that we’ve typically given up on our new year’s resolutions by mid-January.