New Year, More Minimalism: Chronically Online Edition

Happy 2025! For the past year, a big focus of mine has been minimizing and optimizing all aspects of my life. To me, this is the epitome of “simple living” — I don’t have to live in a cottage in the woods (although that sounds nice) to feel a sense of peace with my surroundings. I’ve split my minimalism efforts to the following: digital/social media (what we’ll talk about today), home/living spaces, and fashion/beauty. Within each category, I’ve focused on what to delete/remove, what to optimize, and what to organize. And as always, minimalism is going to look different for each person. Think of it more as a mindset with the goal being how much peace (and feeling of space) something brings you.

First up, digital/social media minimalism. This one REALLY hit me this year (especially post-election). I finally realized just how inundated we are with information (real and fake) and opinions. These days, the online world is made to tell you what you want to hear or to elicit a strong emotional response (especially fear and anxiety) — none of which is great for mental health. It all feels like TOO MUCH. Too many updates from people you no longer know, too many opinions from people without any subject matter expertise on what they’re talking about, too many emotions coming at you, etc. etc. So. Time to minimize and start listening to yourself, good friends and family, and trusted sources. The goal: curate some virtual joy by minimizing consumption.

DELETE

Delete/deactivate social media accounts that are unused, cause anxiety, or lead to excessive doomscrolling. For me, this meant finally deleting my already deactivated Facebook account and deleting the TikTok I spent too much time on. I followed any accounts I really enjoyed on Instagram or Youtube instead.
Remove followers you don’t recognize or are not in contact with on private accounts. My Instagram is private and how I mainly keep up with friends, family, etc. (aka my Facebook replacement). However, there were a lot of random followers from when my account was public, who I’ve since removed.
Pair back on followed accounts that are no longer of interest or are inactive. I also went through everyone I follow on Instagram and removed deactivated accounts, accounts that haven’t posted in years, or those that I automatically scroll past on my feed. Everything just feels so much more focused now.

OPTIMIZE

Consolidate interesting or useful social media accounts to fewer platforms. I use Instagram exclusively to follow friends/family, local companies, and hobby accounts. I also have a Reddit for more in-depth hobby/interests discussions. Finally, I follow channels on Youtube for long-form videos from influencers/creators (a better TikTok replacement for me that doesn’t destroy my attention span). And that’s it!
Create ruthless focus and do-not-disturb settings on devices. You do not need to be always available to everyone. My iPhone is ALWAYS on a custom “focus” setting. I get phone/message notifications from family and close friends. If someone else wants to reach out to me, they can leave a voicemail or I’ll see their text when I choose to. I never have email or social media notifications turned on.

ORGANIZE

These are more “admin” type tasks to keep things in order. Some yearly digital tidying if you will.

Sync contact information across accounts/devices. My contacts were all spread out over Google Contacts and Apple… I used an app to consolidate everything. I also used this time to delete old doctor phone numbers and acquaintances I’m no longer in touch with.
Sort digital files into easy-to-find folders. Organize that Google Drive + Photos, email inbox, whatever you use so that information is easy to find.
Backup photos, files, etc. to the cloud. My phone is set to auto sync photos to Google Photos, which I highly recommend. A few years ago, I also backed up all my physical photos and videos to the cloud (a fairly time consuming task) but I love having everything in one place.