Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has announced she will go on hiatus from Twitter, citing “anxious” feelings she experiences stemming from “negativity” on the platform.
The New York Democrat is probably one of Twitter’s most active users in government.
She often comments on current events, goes head-to-head with other lawmakers, and has used her influential social media presence to push President Joe Biden on progressive causes like canceling student debt.
Ocasio-Cortez also receives her fair share of negative feedback on the platform, where her personal account as 12.8 million followers.
In December, for example, the progressive made headlines when she was prodded by the right for vacationing in Florida — a state with significantly fewer Covid-19 restrictions than her home state of New York.
The trip resulted in Ocasio-Cortez being heavily criticized on Twitter. She responded by accusing her critics of being “creepy weirdos” who find her the object of their affection.
Since the “creepy weirdos” saga, the 32-year-old has been a less active user on Twitter. She said on Monday on her Instagram story
Ocasio-Cortez took to her page to tell her 8.5 million followers that she has become mentally exhausted by Twitter.
A follower had asked her, “When will you come back to twitter?? You’re missed.”
“That’s so funny you bring that up,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “Yeah, when I got Covid, I turned off all my devices, which means I wasn’t really on social media that much or anything like that.”
“So, I mean, literally, I would go to open the app and I almost felt like, anxious,” she also stated. “People kind of fight and gossip and all this other stuff so much, but — and there’s a lot of negative, negativity on there. But I’ll be back, don’t worry.”