Lewis Hamilton Is Wiping His Instagram And Twitter Like We All Should Frankly

Probably no one in the motorsport world is more known for their aggressive social media presence than Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who never misses an opportunity to tell us how #blessed he is. But that may be coming to an end soon. On the heels of him saying something dumb, HAM appears to be clearing out his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Honestly? Good for him. We should all do the same!

NBC Sports and other outlets report that after criticism this week for making a joke in a video where he makes fun of his young nephew for wearing a princess dress—a video on his own Instagram—Hamilton has begun deleting some tweets, and his once-vaunted Instagram page has been cleared of all content. It's a surprising turn from a star racing driver who was known for documenting all his adventures and expensive dog travel on the account.

NBC Sports' Luke Smith noticed that Hamilton's Twitter account is there, but with far fewer tweets than just yesterday. The Instagram, however, is empty, despite having some 5.7 million followers. It is a move that surprised many, given how accustomed we'd all become to Hamilton's heavy social media use:

It must be noted that though the timing of the controversy—which again was an extraordinarily dumb move on Hamilton's part given the size of his following, but hopefully was not an actual act of malice against the boy—is suspect, we don't know the exact reason he's decided to dial back on social media.

But you know what? Maybe he'd had enough. Maybe he realized there's a downside to sharing everything with the world, and exposing all you do to anonymous strangers who never have to explain themselves to you in person. I can certainly understand that. I'm no big fancy "Formula One" racing man, but as someone whose job revolves around being on and in the internet constantly, this shit gets exhausting. It is not how humans were meant to live! And yet it's hard to stop. On a vacation last week I tried to delete my Twitter and personal Facebook. I lasted the subway ride home from work before I gave in and reinstated everything. I would love desperately to quit, or at least cut back significantly as Hamilton seems to have done. It's so easy to be a target of abuse and harassment and vitriol, or to give into those things yourself in your darker moments.

Perhaps Lewis said fuck it, I'm a four-time F1 world champion; maybe I'll just drive the cars, enjoy my millions of dollars and be left alone. I can understand that. Indeed, I applaud it.

Anyway, technology dehumanizes us all. Burn your computer, delete your Twitter, return to nature as humanity was meant to live.

Don't worry, you can bring your dogs.

This post has been updated since publication.