Gigi Hadid Is Taking A Social Media Hiatus & Here's Why You Should, Too
Social media has managed to strike a perfect balance between being a blessing and a curse. It allows us to see parts of the world we might never get the chance to visit in person, but at the same time, leaves us to constantly wonder if our lives are "interesting" enough to share with others. I imagine most celebrities are probably more familiar than any of us with that tug-and-pull feeling, and it's likely what led to Gigi Hadid's social media hiatus, which she announced on her Twitter on Dec. 5.
The 22-year-old model tweeted about her temporary, week-long break from the social media world to let her nearly 8 million followers know the deal about her absence, and included the announcement in an Instagram story, as well. A quick scroll through both of Hadid's social feeds shows she's pretty active on both outlets, posting multiple times a day about every other day or so. Having said that, it may not actually be all that difficult for the supermodel to ditch the social media world. After all, according to her tweet, she's only going on the hiatus for a week, and Harper Bazaar reports that she's challenged herself in the past to take the break for a much longer period of time.
Hadid went on a month-long social media hiatus back in December of 2016, proving this really isn't even a huge deal for her.
In her interview with Harper's Bazaar, the supermodel made it clear that she wasn't deleting any of her social media accounts, but she was clearing the apps from her phone for the time being.
She explained,
At the end of the day I'm choosing what I'm showing you.
As for whether or not she cares what her millions of followers really think about the hiatus? Let's just say, she couldn't give less of a sh*t:
A lot of the world feels so entitled to other peoples' lives, which is so crazy. I'm going to take a break when I feel like it, and when I come back and share it with you, if you want to be supportive and still follow me, that's great. But, if you're going to be upset that I need to be human for a month, than maybe I don't want your follow anyway.
I can't help but wonder if this is a sort of annual tradition that Hadid has started for herself, since her latest hiatus comes just about one year after her first one. If so, I honestly can't blame her. Social media is overwhelming AF any time of year, but it feels especially so during the holiday season, which bombards our social feeds with lavish photos of boozy Christmas parties, obnoxiously long captions describing over-the-top presents, and of course, cheesy, "I said yes!" proposal Instagrams that make you want to roll your eyes back into your skull.
Plus, taking a break from social media every once in a while might be really good for your mental health.
To understand the benefits of taking a step back from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the like, you first need to wrap your head around what all that screen time is doing to you in the first place.
For example, spending a lot of your time stalking old friends on Facebook is said to be pretty bad for your overall well-being. A 2013 study from the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One showed that excessive Facebook use can predict a decline in how satisfied you feel with your life, as well as affect how you feel from moment to moment. Essentially, the researchers were able to show that, even if you have a large network of friends, you tend to feel pretty bummed out within moments of checking your Facebook feed.
Plus, a more recent study from PLOS One, published in May 2017, showed that when people do start dialing down their time spent on the internet, they often exhibit actual symptoms of withdrawal, both mentally and physically. If that doesn't make you want to chuck your phone out the window, I don't know what will.
Aside from the scary science of it all, take a moment to think about all the things you could be doing with your newfound, social media-free spare time if you took a break.
Taking a social media hiatus would mean, for one, you wouldn't subject yourself to the constant anxiety that is keeping up with the tweets coming from the orange pest of a human being who currently resides in the White House. If you ask me, that's reason enough to follow in Gigi Hadid's footsteps here, but hey, that's just one pissed off woman's opinion.
Besides that, you'd generally have a whole lot more free time on your hands. Adweek reported in March of 2017 that the average person will waste about five years of their lives in total scrolling through social media feeds. And when you break it all down, you're spending nearly two hours every single day flipping between Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, etc.
With two extra hours in your day, the options are basically endless for how you could spend that time. You could fit in a really solid workout, followed by some quality meditation. You could watch basically any movie of your choice. You could bake or cook something. You could read that book that's been collecting dust on your shelf for an embarrassingly long time. You could have a long, heart-to-heart talk with someone you love. You could even sleep for an extra two hours!
I'm not sure what Gigi Hadid will do with her extra free time, but girl, I hope you make the absolute most of it.
