4 Steps to Declutter your Social Media

A great place to start decluttering? Declutter your social media!

When I say I am doing some digital decluttering, I don’t necessarily mean the file deleting, photo organising type of decluttering that you probably first think of – you can also declutter your social media channels too.

I don’t have an incredibly large social media presence, but I am on it a lot for marketing my businesses – so sometimes it can feel too much….

It can quite overwhelming being constantly bombarded with information from different channels about things I dont really care about and then missing things that I actually wanted to see.

Why is this a problem? 

Because time and attention are some of the most valuable things we have and they are fast becoming very scarce and limited resources.

So, I try to be very, very intentional about who I gift my time and attention too!

…..and why I do a social media decluttering session now and again.

If you regularly feel stressed or overwhelmed about your online time – then you should regularly declutter your social media life as well.

It frees up physical and mental space.

It will cut out the noise.

It will redirect your attention to more important things.

You will become more focused and intentional with how you spend your online time.

Here are 4 simple tips to declutter your social media!

Tip #1: Mute & Unfollow   

So probably the most crucial step, even if it can be a little awkward and sometime painful is Mute & Unfollow

Our tastes and interests change, so if you find content in your feed that is no longer relevant to you in this season of life – UNFOLLOW. 

Do you follow people who can be too negative or share views that might upset or irritate you? UNFOLLOW.

By doing this, you can free up your time and attention for things and people you really enjoy, value, and would like to follow and support, rather than wasting your time and your energy on these negative aspects. 

A great place to start is to go over your Facebook page likes, group memberships and friends and review them. How many of these pages/groups are just invitations you have accepted out of ‘expectations’? How many of those friends have you actually spoke to in person lately? 

Be really brutal and honest with yourself.

If you are worried about being too drastic or hurting someone’s feelings? At least mute them (trust me when I say that they won’t notice it)

Tip #2: Highlight your ‘favourites’

One platforms such as Instagram, you can highlight your favourite accounts and profiles so their content is prioritised in your news feed. I like to do this for those accounts that fill me full of joy and inspiration, meaning when I log in I can prioritise my focus on the things that make me feel good. 

Tip #3: Control your ‘notification’ settings 

The frequency of how often a notification shows up can be adjusted within the app’s settings or in your device’s applications’ settings instead. I set all my socials to only notify me when I am within the app itself, meaning I don’t get alerts flashing up on my phone constantly which is a big pet peeve of mine!

Tip #4: Uninstall the app (at least for a specific period)

You might think this is too much, but do not underestimate the power in this! Remember, you can always log back in using your browser if necessary (how old fashioned I hear you say…)

There isn’t much of a reason for us to be logged in on our social media accounts 24/7, especially if it’s at the expense of our mental health. Go on – give it a go! I did it for a couple of days once and ended up loving it so much I didn’t add the apps back on for a good 3-4 months!

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