Why I Unfollowed Everyone on Instagram

Simply Unlazy
Jul 23, 2017 · 5 min read

Okay I may have twisted the truth a little bit with the title, but it’s very close. I started off following almost 600 people and as of today, I am only following 34 Instagram accounts. This is my story of why and how that happened.

How I Unfollowed the First Person:

I never realized how much of a problem Instagram was until I deleted Snapchat. I realized that all the time that I was saving from Snapchat…was going into Instagram. I would use it for endless amounts of time when in bed, while eating, and even when I was with friends. Without Snapchat, I was still trying to catch up with what everyone else was doing on Instagram.

At one point, I debated deleting Instagram as well. However, upon consideration, I decided not to due to the sentimental value it held. My Instagram account was like a collection of some of my favourite memories as well as a photo album I did not want to throw away. So then I wondered, what can I do to make Instagram less of a distraction?

One day, I was having coffee with a friend and she asked me, “Why don’t you just unfollow some people?” I immediately rejected the idea because I was afraid I would offend my friends if I unfollowed them. However, soon after, I realized that I wasn’t even close to some of the people that I was following. Would they even realize if I unfollowed them?

I pressed the forbidden “Unfollow” button.

How I Unfollowed Everyone Else:

After taking the big step to unfollow the first person, there was a moment of silence, as if I was expecting some sort of bad chain reaction to occur. A few seconds went by and nothing had changed. I realized that there was no impact to my action. I proceeded to look through my Instagram account for other people that I could unfollow. Suddenly, I wondered, “Wouldn’t some people be angry if I unfollowed them but I was still following others? What would I say to them?” In my head, the only way around this was to unfollow everyone. I was hesitant because it was a crazy thought. There was no way I could unfollow every single person, right? To be honest, I was more curious about seeing the result of this experiment than fearing its consequences. More importantly, I was excited at the idea that I would be doing something that most people wouldn’t dare to do.

What’s there to lose? If I ever wanted to catch up on someone’s profile, I could always search them up (assuming their profile is not put on private). If I ever changed my mind and decided that I wanted to follow everyone again, I could always go to my “followers” list and do so. There weren’t any long lasting impacts from this choice.

One by one, I went through my list of followers and clicked unfollow.

I was nervous about what I had done and the repercussions that would follow. However, to my surprise, my followers remained steady with little to no change. Eventually, my follower count became less of an importance to me, and now I don’t even think about it. I never again have to worry about ensuring that I have more followers than the amount of people I was following. As for the people who unfollowed me after realizing that I unfollowed them, I thought to myself:

“The ones who don’t care about me will unfollow me, in which case they didn’t matter to begin with. If I lose friends from a small exercise like this, they shouldn’t be my friends in the first place.”

Nowadays, when I post a new photo on Instagram, the number of likes and comments haven’t really changed. In fact, I sometimes forget that I unfollowed everyone. However, the benefit is that I now save a LOT more time. Snapchat and Instagram may both be free apps, but they’re expensive when you think of how much time you spend on them. I now redirect that available time to more productive things like reading books and writing journals. I felt like I had broken away from the binding chains of social media, something I haven’t felt in a while.

I also mentioned in the beginning that I now only follow 34 Instagram accounts. To expand on this, none of them are my friends or even people I know. They are motivational or educational Instagram posts that I feel I could learn something from. Some of these accounts include: @entrepreneur, @thegoodquote, and @minoritymindset. I found that by doing this, I actually got motivated or learned something new every time I opened up Instagram. It became more of a positive influence rather than a distraction (although I do admit that I also follow the Toronto Blue Jays).

In comparison to deleting Snapchat, unfollowing everyone on Instagram was definitely more difficult. The act of clicking the unfollow button was easy, but some people reacted more negatively than I expected. I’ve had a few people make fun of me or say that it was weird that I was doing this activity. What really sucked was that I considered some of these people my close friends and they didn’t even bother to genuinely ask why I unfollowed everyone, which brings me to wonder if I should even be keeping these people close to me.

Final Thoughts on Social Media:

As I was talking about my exercises with Snapchat and Instagram to my friends, I had several people mention that they were never as distracted with social media as much as I was. I paused and wondered why I spent so much time on these apps while others were barely phased by it. Although I’m not quite sure what the correct answer is, my best guess is that I am insecure. I think seeing other people’s posts creates a sort of connection, as if I get to live their adventures through their Snapchat stories and their Instagram pictures. However, the thrill would subside afterwards because reality would sink in and I would be back in my room alone. I would want to quickly see the next person’s story so that I could continue living my life through theirs, which would create a long and endless loop, taking up lots of time.

By removing these apps, I feel that it’s giving me a good opportunity to stop and build my own confidence. It forces me to be comfortable being by myself and pursue my own interests. This is definitely something I’m not the best at, but definitely something I want to improve.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Simply Unlazy

Written by

The blog about small and simple practices that make your life a little more unlazy.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade