Hayley Williams Quits Social Media

Hayley Williams is done with social media. The Paramore front woman wiped her Instagram account with nearly 3 million followers clean on October 8, save for a single post which included a statement as to why she’s stepping away from her personal platforms.

For Williams, it seems to come down to one crucial element: boundaries. “I’ve been on the internet and more specifically, social media, since I was 15. Maybe even younger. It started with the blog sites... then Myspace,” she began. “Then Paramore became a thing and social media wasn’t even just for my own person use anymore but it was part of the job. It has been a useful and mostly beautiful part of the job. I crave connection and the internet is a pretty good tool for that when it’s not tearing us apart.”

Williams continued, noting that she had been ruminating on the decision for close to a year before finally going through with it. “Now I know for sure that my desire to move away from personal accounts (yes, even my finsta) is based on nothing more than my interest in keeping a boundary between a public and a private life... and wanting to spend more time looking up and out, rather than down.” In addition to clearing out her Instagram account, Williams also deactivated her personal Twitter account.

Although Williams no longer wishes to spend her life logged on, she stressed that at the end of the day, everyone’s relationship to social media is personal, and she’s not telling anyone how to be online. “No judgment to anymore who loves their social media,” she wrote. “Just a huge encouragement to anymore needing permission to create more boundaries and space to grow — sometimes ‘no’ is the kindest thing you can say... to anyone! ... even yourself.”

Williams is the latest high-profile musician to call it quits on social media. In September, Lana Del Rey also signed off for the foreseeable future, and deactivated both her Instagram and Twitter accounts. "For right now, I think I'm going to just keep my circle a little bit closer and continue to develop some other skills and interests," Del Rey said in a video statement.

Williams’ accounts may be gone, but Paramore’s social media pages remain functioning and intact. Read Williams’ full statement, below.