Cover Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash
As part of living a more intentional life I’ve been paying special attention to the accounts I follow on social media.
I hit the unfollow button every now and then to keep my feed full of the things that I love or love to love. This post is an open invitation for you to do the same with me, no hard feelings involved.
I rarely take things on social media personally, so I actually didn’t see the importance of talking about this topic. But after receiving some complaints on my “unfollowing” behaviour, and now that I have more followers, it seems like the right time to talk about it.
Like many other people, I’m hooked on social media, Instagram more than any other to be specific. After taking some detox sprees in the past, and being honest about the reasons I’m on it, I realized that I don’t want to quit, but be intentional over the way I use it.
I want my social media experience to be joyful, and inspiring. I also want connection… isn’t that the main purpose of these platforms, anyway? If I don’t feel any of those three things, I hit the unfollow button.
It might sound harsh, but I got tired of following out of pity, fear of missing out (FOMO), or giving what is called “hate follows” (the ones you give so you can gossip about someone). I hate to think anyone is following me for those same reasons.
So here are other 6 reasons why I think you shouldn’t be following me:
01. you don’t find any value in my posts
Value can be anything from entertaining to educational. Certainly only you can decide what value is for you, but if you just feel like ´meh´ and scroll past my content more often than not: unfollow me.
02. you follow me because you know me in real life, but you don’t like my content
It is even worse if we never interact whatsoever if there’s not a real connection. If you’re only there out of compromise, please unfollow me; seriously, I won’t get mad about it.
03. you follow me so I follow you back
The whole “follow-for-follow” scheme is lame, more so is the “follow-unfollow” technique. You’re lying to yourself and you’re lying to the people you follow. If I do follow you back, I connected with your content in some way, otherwise is not going to happen, unfollow me.
04. you follow me only because I’m following you
If I follow you it means I love your content, not that I want you to follow me back. So go ahead, light-heartedly, and unfollow me.
05. If, for whatever reason, you get anxious when you see my content
Unfollow me. Your mental health goes first. Period.
06. you never feel challenged or inspired by my content
If you prefer to be comfortable or static, unfollow me.
Following alone is not supporting.
If you follow accounts you never give likes to, leave comments, or share the content, your following hurts those accounts more than it is helping them. Why follow something you’re clearly not liking?
I think it is even worse if you’re giving likes, comments, and shares to “show support” to accounts you don’t like so you can get support back. The numbers might get high, the algorithm might benefit the accounts, but where’s the value? Where’s honesty? Is that really growing?
I’m all in to support others without expecting anything back.
If I do get something back, it is the cherry on top, not the cake.
Being intentional with what I consume in social media helps me be intentional with what I post too. It makes me wonder in what ways can I add value to others: How is that image I posted joyful or inspiring? Is it creating connections and starting conversations?
If I ever happened to unfollow you, rest assured it doesn’t mean I hate you or that you did something wrong, it just means your online persona doesn’t fit my life right now.
If you decide to unfollow me, you still can reach to me as usual, I’ll be here for whatever you need.
I’m super grateful to the followers I have. I see you as people, not as numbers, and I wish for you to have a meaningful and intentional life. Because of that, I don’t want you to feel you have an obligation to follow my account, but to be free and do you.
I love you all.
This post was inspired by @hellofears . She posted her version early last year, but it stuck with me ever since.
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Find a corrousel version below if you’d like to share these thoughts on your instagram :