I was recently spending time with a friend who had a break up a while back. She was telling me how her ex was overseas and about the photos he was posting on Facebook of himself with some beautiful women. It was not the first time since her breakup that she had told me about pics of him she had seen out at a bar, or at an event with another woman. I said to her that I really think she should un-friend him, I mean why torture herself with seeing these images?

On top of that she feels she has to compete, and so she posts photos of herself on nights out when she looks amazing. It is not knew that after a breakup we want to see what our ex is up to, or to show them we are moving on, but if we are really moving on then why play these games?

Like I said people have been doing this for years, checking up on what an ex is up to by asking a mutual friend etc, but with social media we see a constant stream of photos of ex partners, people we no longer work with and people who just drive us crazy. We choose to part ways with people in our ‘real’ everyday lives, yet we still follow them on Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media. It may not even be that we are interested in what they are up to, sometimes we just can’t be bothered with decluttering our social media feeds. 

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Have you ever thought about decluttering your social media feeds? 

Just as we fill our cupboards with things we no longer use, or our wardrobes with clothing we haven’t put on in over 5 years, we do the exact same with social media. Have you ever opened a cupboard and wanted to shut it straight away because it is so full and messy that you don’t want to look at it? The same feeling can occur when you log into Facebook and see images of people that get under your skin, or a whole lot of things you have no interest in seeing, you just want to switch it off, it is no longer a pleasant experience to scroll through. 

I know when my husband first started posting his images on Instagram he was getting many people follow him, but he hated Instagram, when I asked why he told me to look at his feed. Scrolling through I could see what he meant, his feed was full of things that we had no interest in looking at. The reason why was because he is so polite, every time someone followed him, he followed back. It is nice to follow people back, but only if you actually like their feed! Otherwise, like Steve your feed is something you won’t enjoy, or even bother to look at any more. It was time to declutter his feed. It took some time, but now his feed is a place that he likes looking through and time spent on Instagram is something he enjoys. 

  • A great idea is to focus on the positive! It is easy to feel guilty when you are unfollowing or de-friending  people on social media, so don’t focus on it, focus on the ones you are keeping and the happiness they bring into your life.

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  • Focus on one social media platform at a time. Scroll through your feed and take note of what images you don’t enjoy, or what ‘friends’ leave you feeling annoyed, or drained when you see their images.

Social media is meant to enhance our lives, it can be a great way to stay in touch with travelling family and friends, or people you love who live far away. It can also be a great way to stay informed with a local club you are involved in. I particularly love Instagram, and the reason I do is because I have made an effort to follow people whose photographs make me happy. I don’t always follow everyone who follows me, and so they probably unfollow me which is fine, and I don’t unfollow everyone who doesn’t follow me back. I just simply follow the feeds I enjoy. I love photography, so I follow people whose photos I like to look at. I also follow other bloggers I love and admire. I follow some interior design feeds because I love interior design, and I follow some simple living feeds because I love learning more about growing vegetables and about simplifying my lifestyle.

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If you are avoiding your feeds, or feeling your heart sink when you see certain peoples images pop up, then you need to declutter your social media. Make the time and shed your life of the negativity.

  • Ask yourself “why are we still friends?”

Trust me if you focus on the joy you will feel when you can look at your feed and actually love what you see, then you can do it! It is worth it!

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What do you think about what I have written here? Have you decluttered your social media? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for joining me, love Mackenzie xx

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