Rare in Hollywood is the celebrity who completely eschews social media outside of the occasional break, but they definitely do exist, even if it's nearly impossible to know who's absent from Twitter, Instagram and other platforms without doing the legwork. SNL veteran Bill Hader, however, is one who will freely admit to being outside that obsession-friendly world, and his reasons for being out of the loop are both understandable and relatable.
With fans no doubt waiting to see what Bill Hader has in store for audiences with Barry Season 3, the comic actor can currently be heard mixing it up with Marvel heroes and villains in Hulu's animated comedy M.O.D.O.K. Just don't expect to see him sharing clips about it on Facebook. Hader had a fun and insightful chat with stand-up comedian and filmmaker Mike Birbiglia on the latter's podcast Working It Out, where he shared his reasoning behind staying away from social media. In his words:
I’m glad I’m not on social media, because one, I would become addicted to it. So it’s never like, 'Why are you doing that?' It’s more like, I can’t go there because I will fully become addicted to it. But yeah, the other thing is that I’m wrong a lot. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m wrong every day. I don’t understand; I will think one thing one day and then someone will say something and I’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, you’re right.’ But I already have it in stone on social media that I feel this way, so I would be constantly going, ‘Hey, what I said yesterday, I don’t believe anymore. Because I’m figuring it out everyday.'
I think many out there can find it easy to sympathize with Bill Hader's glass-half-empty take on how social media would affect his life. Some people are seemingly trying to live out their entire lives via IG Stories and live tweets, so there's no arguing the notion that such behavior can be extremely addictive. Similar to how former substance-abusers know that it's best to just stay away from alcohol and drugs entirely, Hader has taken a no tolerance approach to social media.
And while Bill Hader's addiction worries are absolutely salient and relevant as all get out, I think his second point is even easier to appreciate. Hader is self-aware enough to know that his own impulses and ignorance on certain topics would likely come back to bite him if he tweeted things on a regular basis. (I think we can all imagine the Twitter tear Hader would have unleashed about Justin Bieber being such a terrible guest host all those years ago.) At a time when woefully misinformed social media posts are as common as sand in a desert, it would be a breath of fresh, sand-free air if more people were more reticent about sharing total garbage online. But then would it even still be the Internet as we know it?
It would certainly be a good time to get more comedic input from Bill Hader on a regular basis through social media, but if it never happens, and we just have to experience larger chunks of his personality through podcasts and talk show interviews, I think we're still doing pretty good. [Insert least offensive GIF of Stefan saying "Accurate."]
While waiting for more (or any) information about HBO's Barry Season 3, be sure to stay current with all the cool shows hitting the 2021 Summer TV schedule.
