I am taking a gap year this year before starting college. 
I wanted to take a break before graduate school, but I chose not to
I wanted to use the year to clear my head and use the time to figure out what I really wanted to study. 
Yeah people do lots of activities. like travel, work, internships, language studies, etc
Thats exactly my plan, I already know how to speak Spanish so I want to go over to Spain to be apart of the culture.  
You are not alone though, in 2016, even Obama's daughter Malia announced her plan for a gap year
I saw that, I think you have to apart of a good family that will support you through this time though. I wish more kids could do this. 
Yeah sometimes it can be good to get time to mature and get a better outlook so you can go in with a better vision, but some people do not approve of that
I think it is way more common in Europe to do this rather than America. 
it is gaining traction in the united states, it was promoted a lot by cornellius bull, back in 1980