Block Everyone
A guide on how to disconnect from social media and big tech while staying connected
It feels like social media has taken over our lives. Everything connects back to social media. Any person and corporation you can think of will have some sort of presence on at least one platform, whether it's just to stay connected themselves or to extend their reach and/or monetization options. I'm sure lots of us would attest that we are addicted. Despite that, it seems impossible to even try to quit. Even if you have the motivation to do so, quitting social media means not keeping up with friends, family, artists, franchises, and creators. Here are some strategies and programs you can use to help yourself to quit while not moving under a rock.
Using things like ReVanced, NewPipe, and Invidious also has the benefit of not giving ad money or your data over to our big tech oligarchs. To learn more, see the rest of the site.
ReVanced
Before you get too excited, note that ReVanced isn't available on iOS - Android only. ReVanced allows for you to essentially mod the apps of various platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, TikTok, or even Duolingo. Depending on the platform, they have different mods that can help you disconnect. The patches I recommend for Instagram are "Hide explore feed", "Limit feed to followed profiles", "Hide navigation buttons" > "Hide Reels", and "Disable Reels scrolling". In practice, having those patches means you can still see content from your followed accounts in the order they were posted and see anything (including reels) your friends send you, but you won't be able to doomscroll.
NewPipe/Invidious
Before you get too excited, note that NewPipe isn't available on iOS - Android only. Invidious is just a website, so it still is. NewPipe and Invidious are third-party clients for YouTube. Using them instead will allow you to still engage with your favorite creators while not being at the whim of the omnipresent algorithm, as there isn't one on either.
Following Only
Rather than scrolling your algorithmically determined content, reserve yourself to just stay up to date with accounts you choose to follow. Instagram ReVanced makes this easy with the "Limit feed to followed profiles" patch. Otherwise, like if you don't use Android, you can use the Instagram link https://www.instagram.com/?variant=following. To my knowledge, this link can't be found anywhere on the site itself, but it works to show you a feed of only profiles you follow. You can also tap the Instagram logo at the top of the app to change to your following feed. This is also easy for YouTube on NewPipe, as there is no algorithmic content.
Reprogram your Feed
Along with blocking everyone, I've curated my following lists to include only accounts that actual "matter". Of course what matters is subjective, but for me the criteria is news, politics, advocacy, people I know in real life, organizations I'm apart of or admire, educational content, and maybe a few other edge cases. Maybe for you you'd add artistic accounts, but considering how evil big tech is I want to spend as little time on social media as possible. Removing all the "slop" accounts and following only what's important will help your feed reflect what really matters, rather than what social media wants to show you. On my personal Instagram, I follow - I think - 2 musicians and 1 game. Every other account is something I've deemed as important. If I'm going to be using a platform from a company that does as much bad as Meta does, I need to make it count and for it to not just be for my own amusement.
And hey, if you need somewhere to start, consider following my account for this site to help boost it (shameless plug).
Block Everyone
Recently I've found myself blocking as many people as possible. It's silly, but it works. At this point I have over 500 accounts blocked on Instagram. Content farms, mass-produced for profit channels, bots, AI posters, bigots, non-crediting meme reposters, and pretty much anything else that slightly annoys me. It pisses off my friends whenever I can't see the reels they send from accounts with an about me in a random language with a caption about Japan generating electricity from footsteps, but it helps me to not spend as much time on the platform.
People, not Platforms
Follow people, not platforms. Rather than following people on social media for the content they create, follow them on places like Substack or add them to your RSS feed so you're following them for what they have to say, not the content they have to offer. Grayjay, a unified feed for social media platforms, can also help with this.
Don't Fuel the Content
"Content" may mean different things to different people, but to me it means things posted to social media with no value. It isn't artistic, it isn't important, it isn't impactful, it isn't educational, it isn't informative, it just is. It's slop. Don't add to the already massive pile of existing content. Don't provide unpaid or underpaid cloud capital for big tech. If you're going to post, make it matter. Again, what that means is up to you. For example, while the content of my site is extremely anti-Meta, I still post to Instagram as I believe I can do more good than bad by spreading my message and guide.