How I Decluttered Social Media to Cut Stress (and Spark Joy!)

Does social media stress you the f*ck out? See how I decluttered my social media to de-stress (and even spark joy!).

Over the past few years, social media has ruined my life.

Okay, that’s probably an overstatement.

But social media has given me tons of anxiety, at times even triggering bouts of depression. And I can’t stand to think of how many hours I’ve spent scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, when I could have been writing, reading, or doing literally anything else.

Going into 2019 — the year before my debut novel is published — I wanted to prioritize my mental health. But no matter how many strides I made to reduce my anxiety, social media was always there, surfacing my insecurities, doubts, and dread, making them fester.

Something had to change.

I couldn’t leave social media permanently. I work in marketing, so deleting my online presence could potentially hurt my career. And with a novel coming out soon, I’ll want to promote it and give readers an easy way to reach out. I know this isn’t a requirement — lots of successful authors have managed to stay off social media — but… I don’t know, it doesn’t seem feasible. Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know.

Either way, I could leave temporarily. In fact, leaving would help me understand what elements of social media I would miss (that spark joy) and what I could live without. And I had a three-month sabbatical planned from my day job to focus on writing. It was perfect timing.

So I took an extended hiatus from social media during this time, starting a month before my leave. For nearly four months,* I didn’t use Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. In fact, I deactivated my Facebook account for most of the time. And I’m not alone — other authors often take temporary breaks from social media; John Green recently quit social media for a full year.

*I made a few exceptions: To reveal my book’s title, when I went abroad and wanted to post pics on Instagram (which I cross-posted to Facebook and Twitter), and to boost a few friends’ book releases or cover reveals.

While there were pros and cons to leaving social media for that long, it helped me understand how I want to use social media with intention — participating in ways that spark joy, and cutting the elements that don’t. I thought of it as KonMarie-ing my social media. (Thanks for the inspiration Marie Kondo!)

In this post, I’ll walk through:

• What about social media sparks joy (for me)

• What about social media doesn’t spark joy (for me)

• Other lessons learned from my social media hiatus

• How I decluttered my social media

I hope that by sharing this with you, you’ll be able to replicate my experiment and determine how you can change your social media usage to spark more joy, and maybe even reduce your stress or anxiety. Keep in mind that my experience is pretty specific to (1) being an author (and part of the writing community), and (2) MYSELF (and my own preferences and anxieties).