Things I Noticed After a Social Media Cleanse

Social media is an inherent part of (most) of our lives. From connection and catch-ups between friends and family to workplace commitments: social media is an integral part of the modern world. Updates from friends and family, memes, news outlets – the list goes on.

And for those reasons, I’m not here to preach about cleaning up your social media feed or committing to a detox to take time away from the digital world. Often times, our lives are far more complicated than simply uninstalling an app, when we have commitments and other priorities.

As much slack as the internet gets for all of its negative influence, it has its fair share of positive, inspirational and otherwise helpful outlets.

So, let’s dive into the reasons why I took a social media cleanse and the things I noticed afterwards. It’s not what you think.

I spend a lot of time on the internet. Don’t we all?

As a small business owner, I am often posting and scheduling content, and interacting with the other small businesses and artists. And outside of work – I am not afraid to admit I can easily be swept up in the whirlpool of memes and cat videos.

However, throughout the year, I found myself feeling frustrated. The algorithm and its antics are one thing – but the content I was finding on my feed wasn’t resonating with me, and some days, I found myself dreading to even come online. Not great when your small business is largely online.

It started with my personal Instagram account. I started wondering why I was aimlessly scrolling past so many posts that didn’t inspire me, make me laugh, or impact my life in a positive or informational way. And so, I took action.

Filtering the accounts I was following from my earliest point; I began to unfollow the accounts that weren’t sparking joy or had been inactive for years. Meme pages, businesses, movies, celebrities, people I knew and random accounts that I couldn’t remember why I was following – no one was safe.

I didn’t jump in and do it all straight away. This was a process I took part in over two or so weeks. Sometimes I would specifically target my following list. Other times, I was just more mindful when I was scrolling, and unfollowed the accounts I no longer enjoying seeing content from.

At the end of the process, I reduced my following count from roughly 1,200 accounts, to 300.

Afterwards, I felt inspired to do the same with the social media accounts and pages linked to my business and drastically decreased that number as well. I unfriended the people who I hadn’t spoken to in years, who’s values don’t align with my own or I didn’t like being in company with anymore, for one reason or another. I unfollowed the pages who didn’t fit the criteria I was setting for my social media experience.

I started to feel free! It was a huge weight off of my shoulders, and I didn’t feel like I was logging onto social media purely to engage in content that I wasn’t interested in.

But that isn’t what I noticed. And that isn’t what this blog post is about.

What I noticed was the changes to the algorithm. As I deleted, unfriended and unfollowed more and more, I found that the algorithm pushed more and more onto me. More ‘people I might like to follow’, more advertisements and even more and more of the content that I wasn’t already following and therefore, wasn’t asking for.

Despite all my attempts to see what I was already following and wanted to appreciate more: the algorithm said no. And if that wasn’t all, I found that the Instagram algorithm – on both my personal and business account – neglected from showing me posts entirely.

During one day of scrolling, I received this notification, and upon clicking on the “View Older Posts” button, I was met with dozens of posts that I hadn’t seen – some from accounts I couldn’t recall seeing in some months.

In our previous blog post “We Need to Talk About Our Friend AL(GORITHM)”, I highlighted a handful of the issues that I have encountered over the years as a small business and artist on Facebook and Instagram. And this is now another unfortunate issue I have come across, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

As a social media user, it’s frustrating to repeatedly not be shown the accounts I’m following. And the more I think about it, the less I am surprised that I went down the harsh path of mass unfriending and unfollowing accounts. I mentioned my decision to a friend in passing who confessed she had been doing the same, and had found the experience to be a huge relief.

As a whole, I have no regrets for my social media cleanse. My timeline was constantly chaotic and unenjoyable, and despite the algorithm’s attempts to force content upon me, it is a better experience than it was.

I feel that disconnecting from negative outlets and the chronically problematic people who I haven’t enjoyed the company from for a long time has had a positive impact on my mental health, and made me reconsider what sources I am getting my entertainment from.

As 2024 comes to a close, perhaps you may also be interested in taking part in a social media cleanse. I certainly don’t think it’s necessary to completely cut it out of your life, but even just reviewing the accounts and pages you are following can make an incredible difference to your mood and overall internet experience.

What are your thoughts? Have you had any similar experiences with the algorithm? Is a social media cleanse a part of your new year goals?

Kimberley (they/them)

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