Clean Your House on Social Media

11-6-23

It's interesting to note that social media was originally intended to be social, connecting people that we know or lost contact with and are interested in what they're doing or connecting individuals and groups and organizations around a particular interest. What have things changed.

The Power of a Social Media Cleanse

In a world dominated by digital connections and virtual friendships, it's easy to lose sight of the true essence of human connection. We often find ourselves entangled in a web of social media acquaintances, some of whom we haven't spoken to in years or don't share our core values.

Recently, like many other social media users, I embarked on a personal social media cleanse, a liberating experience that allowed me to redefine my online presence and prioritize quality over quantity in my relationships. There are a few important reasons to evaluate keeping or purging people on social media.

Social media has become a lightning rod for controversy, in some cases a replacement for news and the constant source of entertainment and trends. But then there are your contacts, people who you're connected to because you follow them, or they follow you, or your friends or linked by the way of that particular social media platform.

Social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram, have become the battlegrounds of our social lives. We accumulate followers, friends, and connections, but how many of these individuals do we genuinely connect with? The answer, for many of us, is surprisingly few. In the pursuit of genuine connections, I decided to sift through my friend list, removing anyone who hadn't played an active, positive role in my life.

The question we want you to ask yourself is, does these people actually provide value? Do they actually give you what you need, what you like, and or what maybe just good for you. If they make you laugh, that's a good thing if they inform you with accurate timely information, that's good too. But if they provide nothing of value, or provide information that gets you upset, pisses you off, or brings negative vibes to your world, it's time to clean house.

This decision was not rooted in hostility but rather in the pursuit of authenticity. Social media, in its essence, is meant to foster connections, yet it often leads to an overwhelming sense of disconnection. By cleansing my social media accounts, I was, in fact, embracing a form of social distancing – not from the world but from the superficiality that often pervades our online interactions.

Some say you should do it every quarter, some say annually, either way it should be a systematic, consistent task that you owe to yourself. You also owe it to those who are on the other end of the cleaning house. No need to waste anyone's time. Followers and account connections should never be a numbers game. There's no shame and cutting ties, cleaning house and unfriending, unfollowing people that don't add value

It's crucial to understand that removing someone from your social feeds is not an act of aggression; it's an act of self-care. We are not obligated to maintain digital ties with people solely based on our shared history or geographical proximity. By decluttering our online lives, we create space for meaningful relationships and authentic interactions.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in this series.