Why I Unfollowed Everyone On Social Media
and why I almost lost my account for it...
If you are here for the FREE DAILY JOURNAL PRINTABLE, it is at the end of this post:) Thank you for being here, subscribing, reading and commenting your thoughts!
It was ridiculous...I couldn't stand one more post about politics or one more ad in my feed that read my web search history... I was done. But how? I still "need" social media - well that is what we are told if we have a public page right? So, I thought I had a great idea to solve this - JUST UNFOLLOW EVERYONE! Yeah right! As soon as the thought entered my brain, my brain talked me out of it. What would everyone think? I was following over 1,000 accounts on Instagram alone…Would the people behind those accounts take it personally? How would it look to everyone?
And there is the problem - when we are having our own mental health challenges, for some reason we think of how putting ourselves first will affect EVERYONE ELSE. And I knew better - I mean I help people with their mental health for a living - why was I not taking my own advice? I stopped the madness and told myself - YOU COME FIRST. It was either I unfollow everything or delete the account - and the latter was not an option. So I took the scary and bold step to simply unfollow all accounts and I say simply with air quotes for sure…nothing about it was “SIMPLE”…
Enter the META gods and big brother…After following just about 50 or so accounts all at once I received a warning from Instagram that they would freeze my account because of ‘unusual’ activity. I tried to continue and they gave me the warning above - thinking that someone else was trying to access my 2-factor security accessed account. At first I was frustrated because my plan was foiled but then I became frustrated by the fact that I realized that Instagram has enough technology to know it was ME doing this but they just didn’t WANT me to do this…for some reason…I still can’t figure out? Ideas? Leave a comment…anywhoo…back to getting blocked by unfollowing….
I reported the hangup in a feature that I could get my hands on in my account and then they kicked me out of my account and didn’t allow me to log back in…is this a bad dream I thought??? I tried everything…redoing my password, sending a new text message, sending a new email…I was scared my account was lost forever…maybe it was meant to be? Then on my last of many tries of an email message to authenticate my account, I was let back into my account. And I slowed down my unfollowing journey to a limit of 25 at a time so as not to risk losing access or getting flagged again.
All of this frustration was similar to the years of pent up frustration I have experienced living too many moments of my life on social media to connect with my community and I was so done…done. And that is how we ended up here - the NEWSLETTER! AHHH its like I am breathing a sigh of relieve when I say it “NEWSSSS-(breath in)-lett-(breath out)-ahhhhh. This is a place to connect without the noise of social media, advertisements, limitless notifications and learning curves. It is simply an email sent to your inbox from a friend checking in on YOU to see how YOU are doing and tell you a little bit about how WE are doing. We promise not to SPAM you or sell your info. We just want to be able to connect in a simple and authentic way outside of the hustle, bustle, codes and restrictions of social platforms. BUT…don’t make any mistake about it…we WILL be social here! We are shooting for 1-2 newsletters per month (maybe more if we feel inspired) and we want to talk with you here! Chime in with your thoughts on our written topics in the comments and keep an eye out for fun printables, freebies and giveaways too - all as a THANK YOU for supporting us here! SO»»»»
Will we still post and check in on social media? Well, the answer is a breath swelling “yes”. We will keep our pages up and running but will not be putting major efforts and energies there. If you want to connect, just come to the newsletter. Got a question? Leave a comment. Want to get updated, look out for a regular newsletter email. Want a free printable or a book release update? Stick around and you will see them here:) Thank for coming along on this journey - and oh - if we ‘unfollowed’ your account on social media - we still love you want to follow you back! You can START YOUR OWN SUBSTACK NEWSLETTER BELOW, let us know and we will follow you!!!
Oh and one last thing, if you are looking to be more in tune with your mental health and write out your day without the influence of media, check out our FREE DAILY JOURNAL PRINTABLE!
Yes it is free! No strings attached:) Thanks for being here! xo, Kim
