I’ve been wanting to do a massive social media clearout and the idea has now got me thinking about mutuals, specifically breaking mutuals. I have a lot of them on Instagram and Twitter, and I don’t want to be the bitch who unfollowed someone that was following her. But at the same time, I have some mutuals who I follow simply because they’re following me, not because we’re friends or because I engage with them and their content. Honestly, I have some mutuals that I don’t even see on my feed and they’re not even muted. So why am I so afraid to unfollow someone I don’t interact with and who will most likely unfollow me as soon as they notice what I’ve done?
Sometimes it’s not right to unfollow a mutual. If you’ve followed them to gain followers and intended to unfollow them almost immediately, that’s wrong. You’re a dick for that. If you’ve followed them hoping they’d follow you back so you can exploit their popularity and the friendship you don’t have, that’s wrong too. You’re a dick for that. What’s not wrong is unfollowing someone because you don’t want to follow them anymore, even if they follow you. I just hate feeling like a bitch for unfollowing a mutual, even if we don’t interact with each other and even if I don’t like their content. I hate feeling guilty for it.
But I understand the other side as well. I’ve been unfollowed by a mutual, felt some type of way, unfollowed them back, and went about my day. I took it personal. But it’s not always personal. Sometimes it is, but not always. And this part is going to sound harsh, but it’s a fact, some of the mutuals I have were a result of numbers. Them wanting more followers and me wanting the same. And that’s why I don’t blame them for unfollowing me, because I was a number in the first place.
I don’t know what the point of this, it probably made me look bad if anything. But I guess the point is to tell you that it’s OK. It’s OK to unfollow someone because you don’t want to follow them anymore, whatever the reason may be. As long you’re not unfollowing them to be malicious and to hurt them, it’s OK. Maybe their content isn’t for you, maybe it’s triggering, and maybe you just need to do a social media clear out. As long as you’re not doing it purposely to hurt someone, it’s OK.
P.S: This isn’t me telling you to break all of the mutuals you don’t interact with or to make you feel like shit for being mutuals with people you don’t talk to. That would be hypocritical and I’m not doing that. I’m simply letting you know that feeling guilty for breaking a mutual follow happens and it’s OK.
I would love to know your thoughts on this subject, so please leave a comment below if you have any! Thank you all for reading and hopefully I’ll be back with another blog post soon. I’ll see you next time, lots of love xx
Photos by Darcy G.
I’m in a few Instagram pods I’m planning to leave and I also still follow people I forgot who they even are! A clearout is definitely good sometimes and you shouldn’t feel guilty for it
Josh
https://www.lookdwn.com
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