Nicki Minaj thinks social media can be "unhealthy"

She said: "I've always been very active with my fans, and so they expect me to speak to them when I put out something new.

"They expect me to ask their opinions, and they're usually really excited when something comes out so they wanna have the chance to express themselves, and I like to give them that opportunity.

"But there are times where I take social media completely off my phone.

"I think that it's important to deactivate sometimes and unplug yourself from the matrix, because as great as it's been for my career, it can be unhealthy to certain people as well.

"If you don't know how to control your emotions, if you don't know how to think before you speak, it can also get you in a lot of trouble."

However, the 34-year-old star will always view her social media connection with her fans as "something positive" and she doesn't think the way she interacts with them has changed since she made it big.

She added in an interview with Paper magazine: "[But] it remains something positive in my life, because even before my first album - with my three mixtapes - I was on Twitter all the time, talking to my fans about every song on every mixtape.

"So nothing has changed.

"I guess when artists become bigger they tend to shift their social media presence, but I'm just one of those artists that hasn't done that."

Earlier this year, Nicki offered to pay for her fans' college tuition on Twitter and though she never expected the generous gesture to become big news, she's glad she did it because it made her feel "really, really good".

She said: "I didn't expect that to make the news. It was so impromptu and spontaneous, but that is very indicative of the relationship that I have with my fans.

"Like anything can happen, anything can be said. My fans have no filter and I have no filter. So at any time, you could be witnessing something historic happening with us.

"I was able to help some of my die-hard fans and that made me feel really, really good. That was one of the best feelings in a long time."