Does Your Social Media Spark Joy?
*This post was originally written and published on Brittani Wills Creative in 2018.
By now, you’ve probably seen all the articles (and let’s face it - memes) about the popular Netflix series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. Starring the Japanese decluttering expert Marie Kondo, Kondo uses her KonMari method to use show subjects and readers everywhere how to declutter their spaces to live happier lives. She’s also written a best-selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up - so one could say she’s well versed in the world of decluttering.
While Kondo’s book and show focus on the decluttering and organizing of physical items, her KonMari method can also be applied to your digital life and social media to ensure it sparks joy. Here are a few ways you can declutter your feeds and leave you with a happier mindset.
DECLUTTER YOUR DIGITAL LIFE
We all have apps that have re-downloaded automatically whenever we get a new phone. Do you really need that app you downloaded once because some celebrity told you to download it? How often do you really use Joanna Gaines’ interior design app - or have you ever even opened it? Do you really need the Shake Shack delivery app even though your house isn’t in their delivery radius? Nope, you don’t! Delete that and save room for the apps you use on a daily basis and are a necessity to free up storage on your phone.
Another thing you can do to declutter your digital life is clean up and organize your inbox. Unsubscribe from email lists that you don’t even remember signing up for, and organize your actual emails in a way that makes sense for you. If your digital life - apps, emails, and all - are free of clutter, then you really have the opportunity to make the most of all of your digital resources.
TIDY UP YOUR FOLLOW LIST
No matter what platform, your follow list is the place to start decluttering your social media. Do Are certain fitness models on Instagram that make you feel bad? Why do you still follow them if they don’t bring a light of positivity to your feed? Subsequently, why are so many random accounts following you? Clean this list up too!
Twitter has been widely known in recent years as the social media app where you go to let your happiness die. With this in mind: Goodbye former classmate that won’t shut up about politics! Goodbye person I went to college with who won’t stop complaining about her life!
Remember when you could be a fan of things on Facebook? Then that turned into likes? We bet your Facebook likes are STILL completely cluttered with dumb pages you fanned when you were a wee little freshman in high school (ie., “Texting the person right next to you so no one else knows your conversation, but they can probably read over your shoulders anyways”).
And...declutter that friend list! Purge your life of the people you know you’ll never see again anyways and are tired of seeing their posts about their boyfriend’s cousin’s father who won’t shut up about this horrible, terrible thing that isn’t actually horrible or terrible.
A JOYFUL GRID
Your own social media is an extension of your personal brand. Make sure it brings you joy! Tidy up your grid by defining how you want to present yourself on your profiles. This could be as simple as applying the same aesthetic and filter to all of your photos, or deleting photos from the past that don’t bring you anymore joy. No matter what you choose, be sure that it sparks joy within you & your phone!
What are some ways you have decluttered your digital life and social media?