If you have ever felt like your social media feeds are making you depressed and anxious, then you are not alone. Or wrong for that matter. By now we have all seen the studies that show a link between social media usage and various mental health issues like depression, isolation, and anxiety. We don’t understand exactly how it works but there is a correlation that warrants further investigation.
Social media also breeds comparisonitis. We scroll through the feeds of people we don’t know and wish our lives were like theirs. The fact that it’s all staged seems to escape us at that moment!
One course of action is to delete all your accounts or unfollow everyone! But let’s be real. Who can do that in a world of social media managers and email correspondence? Thinking of unfollowing everyone? Sure, that is enticing but also does it align with your values? The one positive aspect of social media is that it can also facilitate communication, connection and create opportunities for actual face to face engagement. If you are following 0 people you are not connecting with anybody.
The middle ground approach is purging your Instagram feed. So here are the types of accounts you should unfollow on Instagram this year!
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The one that follows 0 people
Do they think they are too cool to follow people back? Maybe they are going through a phase of detoxing from social media and have asked everyone not to take it personally while they re-align with what they want to be seeing on Instagram. Cool, cool. But also, I am not interested in being served your content while you are living a feed free life.
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The one with 0 posts
When I see an account with more than 2000 followers and zero posts I am thinking you are either revamping your feed or building this account up to sell it. Pass.
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The one with all stock photos
This one is almost always travelling accounts from popular destinations. Greek travel accounts are particularly popular here. The crazy thing is that they often have no insightful captions, no voice or unique presence but measure more than 50k to 100k followers. Did you buy all of them? Probably.
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The one that follows 7,000 people
I see you are either playing the follow unfollow game or have no filter when it comes to the people you follow. You are also probably never going to see my posts come up on your feed even if you do follow me back.
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The one with all cliche quotes
I am not hating on all quote accounts. Some of them are done right. Some of them have something new to offer. But if I click on your profile and can already guess what the first three quotes are going to be, then it’s a hard no from me. Dare to guess? That Marilyn Monroe quote about “handling me at my worst”, “the journey of a thousand miles” and of course “it is not the number of breaths you take…”. Hit the buzzer. Abort mission. Nope.
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The one you can’t even remember following
So, you are scrolling past the earliest accounts you have followed and come across names that make you think, what, who, when? You have never seen posts from this person come up, and have no recollection of meeting them or seeing their content in general. Well, good thing is that you won’t miss them when they are gone. They were not technically there to start with anyway.
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The one that only posts selfies
Need I say more?
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The one that is a celebrity account
What does being a celebrity even mean? Are we talking actors/actresses, singers, athletes, reality TV stars, famous Youtubers? With the exception of people whose life includes more than just being famous, I would say unfollow all celebrities.
Celebrities are not your friends or role models. Their images are usually so retouched they are giving you unrealistic expectations of what a body looks like. Their houses are perfectly cleaned and their feeds professionally curated. Why start your day with that?
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The one that has a massive following
This one is up for debate but hear me out. Do you know those accounts that have 1 or 2 million followers? The larger than this world accounts that are not typical celebrities but some sort of influencer duo/photographer/blogger/? You know, the people that are now “a brand” rather than a person?
They have built an empire on social media and I am so happy for them but I just can’t follow these people anymore. Because they are so big I just can’t identify with any part of what they are doing or rather selling.
I don’t want to see picture-perfect outfits, brunches or pool parties with a whole bunch of other slim, beautiful people you hang out with to network and make money with, somehow! It’s making me sad and sucks all of my healthy, happy thoughts.
The one that is a model
This one goes hand in hand with the celebrity or person with a massive following above. Unless I know you, in which case it is different, then I don’t want to see your bikini shots every day to remind me that I need to get to the gym. Just google Instagram and self-esteem to see how much this fake reality screws with our self-worth. Following a model on Instagram is like living inside a women’s magazine every day and being reminded of all the things you need to buy to maybe look like that one day. Not. Good.
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The one that used to be fun but now is boring
It could be you initially followed this account and were really excited. Maybe it was cat memes or a cute dog, a funny comic, a person that inspired you or a brand that you looked up to. By now the initial excitement has faded and you find their stuff boring and predictable.
You are not a bad person for wanting to unfollow a dog. I promise!!!
If you are that attached to them, then saves a post of theirs on a folder and name it “To Revisit Later”. That way if you ever feel like checking out their stuff you will still have their account details.
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The family member or friend who would get annoyed
Some friends and family members share allllll the time. Others share stuff that make us want to scream, how are we related? Whether it has to do with religion, politics or their side hustle, you have had enough of their presence on your social feeds but can’t unfollow them cause they would know and things would get tense.
This is when you bring out the mute button on Instagram. Click on their profile then on the little arrow on “following” to bring up the setting and mute their posts, stories or both! Disaster averted.
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Related: It’s Actually Not That Hard To Enjoy Instagram
Love it? Pin “Unfollow on Instagram” for later!
After I got my first android, I was curious about Instagram. But after two years, I got bored and started wondering the point of seeing people’s (superficial) lives. Eventually I abandoned it–forgot the password already–and my life has never been happier. 😀
Fair enough! Sometimes you just don’t need so much social media. Whatever works for everyone. When I went on my container ship for 4 weeks I was so happy to not have to deal with the internet 🙂
And since some weeks IG offers also a new feature and shows you the profiles you have been interacting less or that pop up more frequently on your feed: it’s quite helpful I have to say. I just did a bit of tiding up!
I have been using this feature now too, but trying to go slow so I don’t get blocked from liking and commenting again. Have to space out my clean out 😛