TORONTO -- Model and actress Hailey Baldwin Bieber has posted a call for a kinder internet in the new year, calling social media âa breeding ground for cruelty.â
Baldwin, who recently married Canadian popstar Justin Bieber, of blue sky and ocean on her Instagram on Friday. But accompanying the picture-perfect vista was a caption lamenting the way people interact with each other online.
âBecause people donât take the time to connect with each other on an honest level before they resort to hatred, it starts to damage what could be really beautiful human interaction and connection,â she wrote in the post.
She opened up further about vitriol she said she has received on social media.
âNEWS FLASH: it hurts to be torn apart on the internet!!! It hurts to be compared to other human beings every single day, it hurts for people to jump to conclusions and make assumptions. It hurts to be called names, and to feel like you donât measure up to a certain standard.â
Baldwin, 23, and Bieber, 25, tied the knot this past September. While some fans have been supportive of the couple, theyâve faced criticism from those who felt the marriage was premature.
The model said in her post that she loves âconnecting with other people,â and that she is hurt by online comments because she works to stay open to positive emotions.
âI share this only because it weighs often on my heart and because itâs important to be honest about how these things affect us mentally and emotionally,â she wrote in her conclusion. âHopefully it speaks to someone struggling with the same.
âWith that being said Happy New Year. Letâs connect more in 2020.â
As of Saturday afternoon, her post had already received over 530 thousand likes.