Suli Breaks (pictured) is a charismatic poet from London who uses social media as his platform to engage people with strong social topics such as racism, religion, education and beauty. His innovative wordplay and frank delivery have made him push boundaries and inspire an audience all over the world. 

In seven years, he has managed to carve himself an impressive niche in a crowded marketplace. Hailing from humble beginnings in the district of Wood Green, Breaks has grown from playing basketball in his local area to penning a song for Kasabian’s number 1 album 48.13, to travelling around the world in 80 days and having breakfast with Will Smith in LA.

His poetry has earned a reputation as hard-hitting, poignant and thought provoking. The diverse fan base Breaks has cultivated through his videos, performance at TED Global, London last year and intimate gigs worldwide, helped him to prepare for his sold-out headline show, Not A Role Model, which took place in London, August 2016. “Not a Role Model”; the culmination of his latest work, theatrically documented his experiences over the past few years covering topics such as education, love, growing up in inner city London, passion, adversity and his path to success.

This week Suli announced that he would be quitting all social media platforms for an entire month.  Does that sound significant?  Think about it, not only is this a man whose professional success is closely linked to his social media presence, the entire experience which he explains here is designed to be a detox and relief from modern stress.  Could everyone say the same, or would a self-enforced exile like this hurt on a level we hadn’t previously realised?  And what if that abstention were to be extended more widely, to include email and the internet for example?  Of course, we could manage, even get used to it and accept it, but would we feel better for it?

If you have a spare half hour or so you could do a lot worse than watch the first half of his hugely engaging headline show “Not a role model”, and if he isn’t on your radar perhaps you might like to add him.  Although, don’t expect any social media activity from him for the next month or so…