Earlier this month, Gigi Hadid revealed she would be taking a one-month social media hiatus over New Year's. "I'm not deleting my account, I'm just taking the apps off my phone," she said. "It's empowering, not just for people in the spotlight, for everyone. At the end of the day I'm choosing what I'm showing you."
She continued:
"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."
And it's not like she needs it, either; the model currently has 27.5 million Instagram followers and counting. Now, the internet cleanse is in effect. She hasn't posted anything on Instagram in two weeks and has only chimed in on Twitter to wish her fans happy holidays. Instead, she and her family have been spending some quality time together, hitting the slopes, making gingerbread houses and playing with huskies.
"It's empowering for everyone to choose when they're there or not. It doesn't have to define our lives," Hadid told Elle UK. The model, however, still understands the relationship her highly-followed online accounts have with her job.
"I'm so grateful for social media because it's given me so much more in my career, but I also respect my career without it," she added. "I want to pay most of my attention to my job as a craft and the relationships that are meaningful to me – not because the money or contracts, but because of how I inspire designers and how they inspire me."
If you haven't thought of a New Year's resolution for 2017 yet, following in Gigi's footsteps doesn't seem like a bad idea.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
