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Hey everyone, how offended would you all be upset if I just mass unfollowed everyone ever on all social media?

I'm just tired of having a constant distracting feed of random thoughts, upsetting things, porn, cool stuff to spend money on, and distracting articles.

Like I really like being mutuals and having online friendships but the feeds just kinda really mess with my mental health in a bad way.

But lately I've been questioning if I have to do the whole following thing or if it'd be okay to just not have posts to read and only just post once a week with updates and saying hi to people.

Is it okay to mass unfollow for mental health reasons or is doing that considered mass abandoning/insulting friends?

@taylormccue I think you should do what you think is best for you 💜 If social media is a lot to deal with, how about a blog? That way people can subscribe with RSS to keep up with your updates without also inundating you with their own posts. I think some blogs even let you follow via ActivityPub so functionally it would be like following you on Mastodon

Taylor McCue

@renkotsuban I appreciate that. For weeks now I've been kinda dreaming about like unfollowing and having the feeds stop since they're just too much at once and I can't stop scrolling once I start.

But I'm afraid of just like mass losing all the friendships here since I genuinely like chatting with people sometimes on here.

I think I'm going to wait 24 hours and if there isn't a massive amount of pushback do it.

@renkotsuban@gamedev.lgbt

If I were in your shoes I would unfollow and put the computer in the closet for a few weeks. The timeline model is dopamine, cortisol, and adrenaline addictive, so I understand the drive to read everything in your feed.

@octade @renkotsuban Thank you, I am planning on waiting 24+ hours and then maybe doing that.

I use cold turkey to block social media during my work time but sometimes when I need to have it open like for releasing a new game/translation I've looked at the damage it's done to me and questioned why I keep these feeds up at all.

@renkotsuban@gamedev.lgbt

Go at it neighbor. I'm shortly out of here, too. I might not be back for 3 to 4 weeks at a time.

I usually have a spate of reading and hacking, then disappear to work for money for weeks or even a couple months with no Internet access at all. I always feel better a few days after getting away from the Internet.

Sometimes I will write code on a box with no Internet connection, and work on a program for 2 or 3 days without ever getting online. I keep all the reference materials stored locally and in hard copies so I don't need to surf to get answers.

It takes a bit of advance planning but it works great for me.

I also don't announce to my friends or followers that I'm taking time off. I just do it then say hello when I return. Those who know me get it. If I am not answering the phone, it means the phone is off or I left it at home.