Sadie Robertson

Sadie Robertson Takes Social Media Break to Invest in Relationship with the Lord

When it comes to our social-media obsessed culture, 19-year-old Duck Dynasty star Sadie Robertson was right in the thick of it–until she consciously and intentionally took a step back recently. With almost 3 million eager, expectant followers on Instagram, @legitsadierob had to do some explaining when she decided to take a break from social media to “invest in relationship with the Lord.”

Sadie’s Social Media Break

It wasn’t that social media was a drain on Sadie’s life. In fact, she seems to view social media as a way to broadcast her faith and influence others toward Christ. Even so, she herself needed time and space to revitalize her relationship with her personal Savior. So on April 3, 2017, she turned the management of her social media accounts over to @cheylittle and @courtkruger.

In her April 3 Instagram post, she featured a makeup-less, down-to-earth selfie with the caption: “Hey ya’ll, I just wanted to share with you all what’s been on my heart lately. Life is crazy right now, and I just kinda feel like I need to take a step away from social media. I just need to get away and just really focus on my life. Invest in my friendships, invest in my family, and invest in my relationship with the Lord.”

Sadie is not the only young star to take a break from the addictive world of social media. We recently reported that 24-year-old Selena Gomez–singer, actor, and producer of Netflix hit series 13 Reasons Why–has also distanced herself from social media, wanting her followers and fans to redirect their devotion from her to God.

In fact, Selena is proud of 13 Reasons Why because it demonstrates the dangers (i.e., cyber bullying) of a teen culture that’s obsessed with and consumed by social media.

Sadie herself goes even further than simply turning away from the Twitter-sphere and Instagram culture. She advises any followers who feel “drained, hurt, consumed … or insecure because of social media” to delete their accounts. Her wise advice? “[Social media] is not life … it’s just where you talk about life. Go make your memories.”

Loneliness and Despair in an Over-Connected Culture

According to Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together, the irony of our over-connected, social media-driven culture is that we are lonelier than ever. We are finding that likes and friends on a screen are not a substitute for face-to-face, meaningful interactions. According to a major study, roughly 20 percent of Americans–60 million people–are unhappy with their lives due to loneliness.

You can be lonely whether you’re in a crowd of people, have millions of followers on Instagram and friends on Facebook, or are alone in your house. Loneliness is a feeling, while social isolation is a physical state. Not all isolated people are lonely, and not all lonely people are isolated.

Even though loneliness is perceived, it has very real mental and physical effects. Lonely people are less likely to exercise, more likely to be obese, more likely to have hormonal imbalances and chronic inflammation, more likely to be depressed, and more likely to suffer from insomnia.

While social media can be a great tool for keeping in touch with distant friends, it can also become destructive and addictive if it becomes your primary source of interaction with others.

Guard Your Heart

Ultimately, Sadie determined for herself that social media was beginning to overshadow her relationship with God. Perhaps it was also causing her to feel lonely and insecure. After all, it must be difficult to maintain a polished persona with the goal of satisfying millions of fans each and every day.

Perhaps Sadie was reminding herself of her own value in the eyes of God, when she left her Instagram followers to muse on this thought: “Your originality is what is beautiful. Find confidence in what is inside, because that is something that you can grow in. Be strong and kind. Guard your heart for it IS the wellspring of your life. Don’t let comments creep in and hurt your heart.”

In an age of cyber-bullying and widespread loneliness, feel free to follow Sadie’s lead and take a break from the empty world of social media.