For instance, follow fewer accounts, or at least use the Favorites feature to concentrate on the ones most valuable to you.
When you go to ig, switch your feed to Following or Favorites so all you see is what you want, in normal chronological order, instead of ads and promoted posts that never end.
Turn off the like count for your posts, too
Social media now is set up to benefit the app companies. The apps prioritize engagement, not enjoyment. You have to work around that, unfortunately.
I follow friends/family members, bands I like, and some people in Gaza. I don’t see any reels or suggested posts or anything else Meta wants to force on us. I run out of posts to look at in maybe ten minutes.
I won’t discourage anyone from deleting ig, but it is possible to make it useful and enjoyable (at least for now).
Feb 9, 2025
Related Recs
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Concentrate on accounts you follow, and expect to run out of things to look at. Avoid “for you” and “suggested posts/videos” - when you’re out of Following posts, you’re done :)
People have said the internet is full of horrors, and I know that’s true, but I haven’t experienced it. That’s not to brag, just to show it’s possible! And I have spent my time on Tumblr, Reddit, pre-Musk Twitter, YouTube, instagram.
Link goes to a post with specific advice for IG and YouTube. I don’t think Twitter can be used this way anymore, and you will have junk shoved into your feed no matter what.
Maybe start fresh with new accounts to reset everything, too
Mar 2, 2025
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it’s so horrible for your brain and self image and i’m sure it’s just gotten more hellish since 2016. i save photos i like to an album (u can now add captions to photos on iphone) that is my social media for myself. and i also just text people or more often wait for them to text me since im bad at reaching out. i truly do not miss it at all.
i however am not perfect and will do my share of doomscrolling on youtube shorts which is bad for my brain but at least doesnt affect my self esteem since there is no community of my peers, i feel no urge to post, and the algorithm is so bad nothing is ever very targeted/relevant. you will be surprised how quickly you stop thinking and wondering about it and how good and free it will make you feel, i have quite literally never looked back.
Mar 3, 2025
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the whole instagram formula is so terrible and evil and the only reels i get now are either people promoting their of accounts, weird ‘cringe posting’, or political stuff that makes me depressed. honestly i need to delete instagram, but it’s one of the only ways people communicate with me so i have to keep it solely for that. thank the lord that most of my chats have moved to whatsapp though because reels give me brain damage
Apr 7, 2025
Top Recs from @bee1000
The occupation persists, the oppression persists, the torture persists.
The occupiers are psychotic and their work is never finished.
People who’ve paid attention won’t be surprised by this photo from Gaza.
Jan 22, 2025
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Give people like jilly a break!
I actually practice what I preach on this one 😇
Jan 25, 2025
Feb 10, 2025