Award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has revealed that she has deliberately avoided reading or searching for information about herself online since 2005.
Adichie made the disclosure in an interview with YouTuber Shade Samagbeyi, where she explained that the decision was a way of protecting her mental health and creativity from the toxic side of the internet.
According to her, constantly searching for oneself online amounts to “battling faceless ghosts,” which can distort reality and negatively affect one’s state of mind.
“Since 2005, I have never read or searched about myself, and I never will, because I think it is important to protect yourself from the terrible part of the internet,” Adichie said.
She added that blocking out online negativity has helped her remain focused on her craft.
“For me, at least to stay focused on what I want to do, the background noise has to be blocked. There are so many people who write without knowing how deeply they affect someone’s life through it,” she explained.
Adichie further noted that many celebrities have been driven to depression and even suicide due to harmful write-ups online. She stressed that paying attention to such negativity would have limited her achievements.
“If I had started off reading what people said, I wouldn’t have written and said the things I did. I wouldn’t have become who I am, because I would have been constantly thinking about what people say,” she said.
The celebrated novelist concluded that deliberately choosing “a wonderful ignorance of stupidity” has allowed her to freely pursue her passion for writing without being weighed down by online criticism.