Why it’s ok to slim down your friends list
November 17 was Unfriend Day.
Yep. It’s a thing apparently.
In 2014 American talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel founded Unfriend Day as a way of helping us de-clutter our online lives.
Jimmy suggests looking through Facebook and unfriending anyone you haven’t spoken to in a year or longer. As someone who does a fairly regular cull of people I’m loosely connected to online, I love this idea.
Social media has been around for over twenty years (I know, right?). LinkedIn started in 2002, Facebook in 2004, Twitter in 2006. Blogging and other forms of online chat have been around even longer.
For all its benefits, too much, or the wrong type of social media use, can lead to overwhelm and exhaustion. Not to mention feelings of comparisonitis and imposter syndrome!
If you’re feeling exhausted by life, there are a few things you can do to make sure the time you spend on social media isn’t adding to that exhaustion:
Work out how much time each day you are spending on your phone – the Screen Time app can help you with that. If it’s an amount you’re not comfortable with, some of the tactics below might help you reduce it.
Use the Screen Time app to identify which apps you’re using the most and consider whether you could delete one or more either from your phone or forever. I took Facebook off my phone and iPad many years ago and my overwhelm reduced enormously.
Put your phone into greyscale, so it’s all in black and white and shades of grey. Apps in colour are far more addictive than apps in black and white. Try it for 24 hours and see how you go.
Set time limits on the apps you’re using the most – again, Screen Time can help with this, along with other apps such as BreakFree.
Curate what and who you follow on social media. Twitter has an excellent mute function, allowing you to mute people, hashtags and keywords.
Do as Jimmy Kimmel suggests, and unfriend people on Facebook. If that’s a bit harsh, or the repercussions will be greater than you really want to deal with, unfollow them. They won’t know.
Leave the Facebook groups that no longer serve you (or, again, you could unfollow – this means you’re still in the group, but you don’t see its feed unless you deliberately check the group).
Have dedicated times during the day / week / year when you go tech free. It might be the first and last hour of your day, one day a week or one week a year. Or something else that works for your lifestyle.
What will you do to commemorate Unfriend Day?
I’d love to know.
