Research has shown that any form of social media cleanse would help you sleep better, reprioritise more personal forms of interaction, eliminate your FOMO, and help you relax more. Moreover, dedicating less time to mindless scrolling would mean that you have more time for other activities that are more fulfilling/ spark more joy.
Your challenge this week would be to unfollow 5 social media accounts that you no longer care about, or are unhealthy.
What are some of the accounts that you unfollowed, and why? What are some small steps you can take to have a healthier relationship with social media?
Here’s also a guided meditation exercise that you can refer to whenever you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or struggle to feel present.
I unfollowed someone who in the past has affected my mental health through our short friendship. I unfollowed celebrities that made me set unrealistic standards for myself in life. I unfollowed accounts that used to bring me joy but, I found completely unrelatable now.
Steps I could take to have a healthier relationship with social media is limiting use to mostly when I do not have anything to do as social media addiction is a real issue in this day and age that I may be affected by if I do not control my own social media use.
The accounts I have unfollowed includes friends that I have not keep in touch for a long time or do not know so well, celebrities which influence me badly in terms of my time management and perspective in life. I unfollowed these accounts as it does not bring any meaningful purpose to my life and help me to prioritize in which would benefit me or impact me in a positive way, which bring inspiration and motivation.
Some steps includes having a time boundary in which I am entitle to browse through social media as it will help my brain to focus on things that matters more which can lead me towards my goals in life such as doing well in my studies and contributing back to the community. Also, turning off notifications regarding social media would help me to reduce the temptation to scroll through social media as if when I like. This would help me to distinguish which are the things that are more important and less important in life. Important things includes submissions are submitted on time and less important is watching a live video of my friend on Instagram.
I unfollowed a number of people that I don’t remember following. I also cleaned up my follower list and deleted some followers so I keep my posts to only people that I know.
I like to use the Scheduled Summary feature in iPhone so I keep my notifications to a minimum. Now I only get social media notifications at 8am and 6pm which helps me focus on what’s important.
There was a time when I was really sad about my accounts not doing well on my instagram, and so I stayed up to 1am to unfollow everyone, regardless whether they were friends or artists I’ve admired. I wanted to do so because I wanted to experience a world where I can’t see what others are doing, and I have no chance to envy them. In fact, I’ve made an account where I solely post my own art without following my friends/ family, and I feel so much better.
I also disabled the ability for anyone to message me on all my accounts on my IG, because I honestly did feel anxious, and still am.
Doing social media cleansing during the exam period is really beneficial to me as it not only helps me focus on the task at hand but also does not affect my mental health negatively. Do not believe everything you see on social media as some of it might be a facade.
I decided to unfollow all accounts belonging to celebrities. I used to follow celebrity culture extremely intensely and kept up to date with all types of celebrity news/ gossip. however, as i started getting older, i realised that I couldn’t really care less about celebrity culture anymore. I realised that whatever they posted on social media is probably a facade anyway, and their content simply no longer sparks joy for me.
ive set a time limit for instagram, to prevent myself from spending too much time on the platform! i’ve also been following more people who inspire me (artists, creators, athletes and designers), as well as more news outlets (bbc, cnn, nyt etc.) to stay informed. this way, whenever I scroll through my feed, at least I am fed with content that inspire me + gives me new ideas/ concepts to ponder about : ) I hope I spend less time mindlessly scrolling through social media, and spend that time on talking to people and deepening actual, real human connections irl more!
Instead of 5 social media accounts I do not care about, I unfollowed the last few people who remind me of my past. Removing this point of contact was nerve wrecking, but a huge step forward in my growth and recovery. I also tend to spend less time on social media and put in more effort when engaging with friends. The relationships I have built in the past few months in the grand scheme of becoming the optimal me have and will continue to give me a better grasp on how I intend to achieve this goal.
I unfollowed people who were hurtful to me in the past. I want to stop having a grudge on them and move on from those memories. I don’t want to waste my time on things that make me frustrated and resentful.
In order to form a healthier relationship with social media, I will limit my screen time and take 30 mins breaks from social media. I will also unfollow content that drains my energy.
Unfollowed any people from my past. Sometimes it’s good to realise that when you follow someone and feel unable to stop following them is actually because you’re holding on to the past memories you had with them so it’s good to realise that and unfollow them
Social media is best limited. Limiting the time you spend on social media would help and practicing how to live in the moment help too
I have chosen to unfollow celebrities during my social media cleanup. In the past, I have followed celebrities to think they are a good role model hence since young aspiring to be them. However, as I start to grow up and be exposed to more news, the celebrity culture is actually quite toxic and unhealthy as there are a lot of hidden politics that we are not aware of hence I do not want to be influenced by being exposed to such toxicity hence choosing to unfollow their social media account.
In addition, I have also started to limit my time spend on social media and replace it with going out with my family and friends. I believe that real-life interaction will not only help to keep in touch with them but also help improve my mental well-being.
I decided to unfollow some friends that I no longer keep in contact with as much. I did this as I often find myself looking through their posts and stories of their lives and the exciting things they would do and wanting to have similar experiences myself but never actually planning to do it. Through this challenge I believe that I can better focus on the present to appreciate those who are around me to spend my time with instead of watching those who are far out of reach for me.
I am a yoga practitioner and followed some yoga practitioners/teachers accounts to gain more yoga related skills and knowledge. I found out over time though that there is a tendency for these individuals trying to grow their social media presence to start to preach and impart philosophical knowledge about their way of living. I unfollowed them because I think it’s important to safeguard who influences my moral compass.
I unfollowed a number of celebrities. There are celebrities who have turned into businessmen or businesswomen who make use of their celebrity status to oversell their business. For example, singers around the world starting ventures related to makeup and beauty products.
There are people who say that they look beautiful because of the makeup products that they own as a business. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the fact that they have access to treatments that most common people don’t. They have a PR team and media connections to release their selected photos in public.
i unfollowed accounts with people i don’t really know. influencers and celebrities that made me feel like im not enough. i think the first step to have a healthier relationship with social media is by being kind to myself.
I decided to unfollow old friends that fed into unhealthy feelings in me. I unfollowed some meme pages that were offensive and had content I no longer agreed with.
I think as someone who deals with Social Media often in her career, it’s hard to compleTEly disregard it. But one thing I’ve learnt along the way is to find balance. Social Media can be great to express yourself or connect, but it shouldn’t be our go to, or only source of such connection and self expression. It should not define my worth as a person and dictate every decision I make. Am I taking pictures of my picnic for the gram so someone I know will appreciate it, or to save the memory? I think each time I post, I just think a bit more about why I’m doing it, and that often helps.
I have two accounts on social media - one personal and one professional.
I do not use my personal account often. This account is used to keep track of all my close friends or people I want to keep close to. In this account, I unfollow accounts that I realized later on that they are toxic or unhealthy for me. I unfollowed 4 accounts.
In my professional account, I follow mainly the news. I use this account to network with others. Hence, in this account, I follow many people. I ensure that I know these people before I follow them. However, because I am too lazy to switch accounts all the time, I use this account to follow accounts which I find inspiring, accounts that post relatable quotes, and accounts that post short clips on cats (because they are adorable ). Because I followed too many accounts, I find it difficult to read the news (The Straits Times and CNA) as they will be drowned by other posts. Hence, I deleted some accounts that post quotes and cat clips. I unfollowed 4 accounts.
I have unfollowed 5 accounts that I less interacted with and accounts that have become invalid which I am unknown of as it is best to stay safe when using social media with the friends or people whom I know of .
The five accounts I have unfollowed are people who aren’t close to me anymore, have channelled negative feelings into my life, and have consistently demoralised me. Moreover, I have attempted to keep my followers and follow a small number of people I know of to maintain a safe space for myself to reduce the likelihood of strangers.
so it’s good to realise that and unfollow them 
). Because I followed too many accounts, I find it difficult to read the news (The Straits Times and CNA) as they will be drowned by other posts. Hence, I deleted some accounts that post quotes and cat clips. I unfollowed 4 accounts.