It's that time of the year ... a little tradition of mine, the time when I sit at my computer for a couple of hours unfollowing, unfriending, unsubscribing and generally deleting. It makes me feel better to streamline my online activity and no doubt help in some small way to keep myself a bit safer with online activities, so it's never a bad thing or a waste of time.
I find I change in many ways, some small and some much larger and what I might have enjoyed for the last few years can suddenly no longer seem even slightly relevant to how I feel as I am stepping into a new year. And it feels like after the year we have just survived this is even more the case at the end of this year.
Seeing the 'Friends' numbers go down on Facebook might to some be seen as anti-social and maybe even downright unfriendly, but if someone has not been a true friend or has Friended me with ulterior motives this is their time to vanish. So friends go, pages are unfollowed, the odd person is blocked completely and my online family shrinks.
I spent a good ten minutes unsubscribing from YouTube channels that I no longer have an interest in or watch. How I had managed to get to well over a hundred subscriptions I'll never know, but now I'm down to just forty, including the new rationing ones that I have recently found.
I find it a very satisfying time and something perhaps I should do more often, but doing it at least once a year is enough for now.
What are your little 'traditions' for the end of the year.
Sue xx
I did much the same recently. I realised I too had over 100 subscriptions on You Tube yet if you'd asked me I'd have said I had about 20! Clearly I was only watching about 20 (not all at once I might add!) Some, I wondered why I'd subscribed to in the first place and others haven't updated recently or I just wasn't interested any longer. I'm also very tempted to press 'delete all' on my email account as I have over 1000 unopened mails. All from various companies. I had a clearout of that too a while ago when I unsubscribed to several publications but clearly some slipped through the net and I got fed up going through them so now I just don't open them or delete them which is beginning to annoy me hugely! I don't know what is stopping me from delete all as everything I want to read is read - I might just go and do it right now while we're talking about it! Wish me luck!! x
ReplyDeleteSomething I probably should do, go through my friend's list. Honestly, these past four years have opened up some sharp divisions within our country, and I'm very tired of some of the posts on facebook. I have never subscribed to a youtube channel. At least not on purpose.
ReplyDeleteI have never subscribed to a You tube channel.I watch the occasional video,usually craft related,but that's all.
ReplyDeleteIts never a bad idea to review things before the new year begins. I usually re do the household budget and delete some email contacts as well as unsubscribe from certain company e-mail shots. I've never been tempted to post much on Facebook and only have family as friends so thats no problem. I've stopped reading certain blogs because I find them depressing or aggressive and have no time to waste on them. I LOVE all your posts, Sue, and I'm pleased to see that you haven't deleted ME from your blog list 😉. Happy new year my lovely x
ReplyDeleteThat is funny..maybe we all just had a little down time right now to do it. But I went through emails from this past year or so and deleted a bunch. Did a scan on my computer to get rid of bad stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've written everyone's birthdays in my new diary and that's about it! No online stuff to delete, don't even know how to subscribe to youtube. Need to go through the paperwork drawer sometime and file/chuck out - another day tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYour traditions sound a bit like mental spring cleaning. I am all for that.
ReplyDeleteI bought my calendar for 2021 and entered all of the family birthdays and any doctor's appointments already scheduled. My daughter gives me a "Jeopardy" calendar every Christmas and so I am ready to guess the questions each day for another year. I don't make resolutions or pick a word or any of those things.
ReplyDeleteI think I will go delete some Facebook friends, tho, good idea!
It sounds like you have some wise traditions to get cleaned up and ready for the new year. Mine is mainly taking an introspective view of myself and my past year in order to see where I can best make improvements. This year I have many needed improvements because this crazy pandemic has made me a lazy person that I don't much care for! I also take the time to clean up my email on my computer and sort through some of those other items you have mentioned. Happy New Year to you Sue!
ReplyDeleteSounds like ‘unsubscribe’ is the word of the week......it’s been going on in my house as well. I look at some of the sites and wonder what on earth I found so interesting in the first place because that interest certainly isn’t there now. What’s the betting that a little way down the track those ‘empty shelves’ will begin to fill again with ‘equally interesting’ (at the time) places to visit 😊
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you and your family
I regularly unsubscribe from emails, they drive me crazy. I only have a few YouTube channels. As for Facebook, it's quite false. I'm not bothered if I don't see it.
ReplyDeleteOther than unfriending people on Facebook, I do much the same as you.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I've been doing a bit of an electronic clean up myself, deleting emails, some blogs, bookmarks etc. I don't have Facebook, Instagram or a Pinterest Account so no need to worry about that. Just did a recent Youtube subscription update and I've been slowly deleting online notifications as well. It never hurts.
ReplyDeleteLike you I have a complete overview of any social media accounts. I've found my tastes have changed a lot this year. I have given up on the whole new year resolution thing, and just focus on the hear and now.
ReplyDeleteI refer to this tradition as Social Media housekeeping. X
ReplyDeleteIt is time to reflect. I try not to reflect too much as it all becomes rather negative, I am very good at taking blame for everything.i like to clear my emails regularly. I had hundreds of unopened ones going back a year or so. All gone now. I 'unfollow' people regularly on FB. Less harsh than unfriending. Happy New Year to you She.
ReplyDeleteI left Facebook in the spring and have never missed it. Next you should try that... it's such a freeing feeling (and yes, I was "friends" with my children, grandchildren, extended family). I figure whoever truly wants to know how I am can call or email me. My phone number is the same one my parents used when I was born, so everybody knows it. *lol* You'd be surprised at how many (yes, including my children) don't do that... which proves to me they couldn't care less how I am. Lots of truths get revealed when you leave Facebook. Happy New Year~ Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteI couldn't leave Facebook as it is the ONLY way I see my grandchildren due to the nature of my son's relationship with their mothers and the distance in between us, even more so during the lockdowns as we are in different countries and Tiers. And as someone who is quite phone phobic I don't tend to chat to people other than my Mum, Alan and sons on the phone unless I really have to.
DeleteI also have good daily contact with fellow long term bloggers via Facebook and Messenger, a whole other level of blogging buddy friendship as on there we get to learn more about each other and are more like pen pals in a way. So it is really good for some things, it's just the 'hangers' on and the temporary 'Friends' that get unfollowed during a clear out.
Tradition? Doing 'the books'!
ReplyDeleteI've never purged my FB friends -I don't have that many- but I do sort them into close friends, friends and acquaintances.
Oh that's Alan's tradition too. December is the end of the third quarter and he can always be found in the office immediately after Christmas, trying to catch up with the preceding three months accounts which have usually been left waiting. The VAT man calleth!!
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