Recently I have begun practicing social media minimalism, and it has really made a difference in my life over the past few months. I wanted to share my story to inspire all of you to practice social media minimalism too and change your lives for the better.
This past year I have especially begun to notice people or accounts in my feeds that I really do not care about seeing or need to see pop up. I no longer know them, I don’t enjoy the things they post, I no longer am interested in their product, etc. the list of reasons goes on and on.
I know there are all kinds of articles out there talking about how social media lowers our self confidence or impacts the way we think about our lives and ourselves, and that may be the case for many people. For me, it was more of a “Why do I still follow or why am I still friends with these accounts or people if it doesn’t bring some type of happiness into my life?” The tricky part was figuring out how to motivate myself to go through my 1,000+ friends on Facebook and my 800+ following on Instagram and take care of business.
After searching around for a few different sources of inspiration, I found a Youtube clip from the Minimalists (they also have an amazing documentary out about minimalism and weekly videos/podcasts out each week about living a completely minimalistic life) and they had a very valid point about anything you are afraid to do in life. The question that they posed helped me to conquer my fear of unfollowing…
“What are you afraid of?” They asked. “What’s the worst thing possible that could happen?”
After that video, I tried to think about that question. The worst thing that could happen? Honestly, what was the worst possible thing that could happen…? Someone being slightly annoyed that they lost a follower… Someone I don’t even know anymore upset that I can’t see their latest political views? Then, I thought about how those things compared to all of the things I might gain from doing this exercise.
So…
I went from 800 friends on Facebook to 450.
I went from following 1,200 on Instagram to 650.
And it felt really good. I felt great. I felt more calm scrolling through my feeds, knowing I was seeing what I wanted to see. I did not need to feel guilty one bit!
After I did that to my Instagram and Facebook, I was ready to tackle something else. Another social media account that I hadn’t even thought about was Pinterest! Oh my gosh, going through all the pins that I was never actually going to use or didn’t even inspire me anymore was exhausting, but worth it. I went from 5,000 pins to 2,300 and I am still working on it. I am trying to be more selective about what I pin, so I don’t have to go back and minimize every month… It’s hard but worth it!
So, since my first attempt at the social media minimalism life, I have noticed that a few things are different in my life. I see less and less of posts that do not bring happiness to my life, and more of the things that I enjoy! I feel less stressed when I go through my feed, and there is less scrolling to find the things that I actually want to see. Now, I am not saying that 450 Facebook friends or following 650 people on Instagram is very minimalist- but that is the thing I love about minimizing my social media. You can make it into whatever you need it to be for you!
Whether or not social media minimalism means the same thing to you as it does to me doesn’t matter. Maybe you clean out your personal accounts and only follow the most important 50 people in your life. Or maybe you just unfollow or unfriend 10 accounts that don’t bring you joy. Do with this information what you will, but I am telling you, you will see a change for the better in the happiness you get from scrolling through your feeds. And that is the whole point of social media, right?
*My source of inspiration to add some social media minimalism to my life came from these two guys, and their many podcasts and youtube videos: https://www.theminimalists.com/. Check out their site for more tips about incorporating minimalism into all areas of life!