Deleting Social Media: Personal Story, Benefits, and How to Quit

20-Second Summary

Deleting your social media is not a sign of weakness. Sometimes doing so is necessary for your mental health and detox, and may help you improve your productivity and become healthier and happier. 

This blog post contains my personal social media detox approach, but my experience is a practical example with a step-by-step guide on helping you delete social media both permanently and partially for mental detox and healthy focus on self.

Is Deleting Social Media a Sign of Depression?

The answer can be both a yes and a no. I have a specific reason to say that, with valid reasons for both.

How Deleting Social Media Can Be a Sign of Depression

• For some people who did a social media cleanse, while they were in their career struggling phase, seeing other people posting success and growth content in the same phase made them feel depressed and less accomplished.
• Some people who had recently divorced or broken up found themselves feeling depressed seeing their partners doing well online.
• Those who were fighting to gain or lose body weight felt depressed seeing people with healthy bodies.
• Many confident people even found themselves feeling depressed due to cyberbullying, making them leave social media to cleanse and detox. 

Why Deleting Social Media Is Not a Sign of Depression

Deleting social media is not always a sign of depression; sometimes people do that just for specific and temporary healthy reasons like:

• Students delete social media temporarily to focus on their exams.
• Adults are deleting it to reduce their screen time and go back to healthy physical activities because they feel like social media is taking up essential time in their lives.
• Professionals taking a break from social media, not internet and professional platforms completely, to spend their leisure time with family and mental health and relaxation, rather than compulsive browsing after already spending hours working on a laptop as an employee or business owner.

Deleting social media for me was just a temporary break, where I did not stop using the internet overall as it was closely related to my profession, but yes, avoiding Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and Snapchat really helped me find myself and actually find the meaning of life that was totally lost in impulsive scrolling after spending hours on laptop and mobile for work.

Now I spend hours working online, for clients and my company, but I do not depend on Social Media right after work as my leisure time, and rather read books or spend time with family or nature, reflecting on life and creating memories that I can cherish for years to come. 

Deleting Social Media App vs. Full Account Deletion

Deleting social media can be both temporary and permanent. You can either choose to remove the apps from your mobile and laptop for some months or even years, or delete the social media accounts permanently. 

• Since most people find themselves regretting after the permanent deletion, I always recommend testing what you really need by temporarily deleting the social media apps for a week. 
• You can even go by deleting one app per week or per month, and see if you go back on installing them and logging in again.
• If you can easily let go of the apps, and you do not find yourself logging back into them within the first week or month, that shows you are off to a strong start.
• Once you have removed the apps, you can inform the close family groups to contact you via phone if they need to reach out to you.
• Now create a routine that you want to follow in the hours you were impulsive, using social media just browsing unproductively.
• After a few months (If you actually made it), you may find yourself actually deleting one or two apps permanently, realising their negative impacts.
• One major tip is to download your data before permanently deleting your social media account, as this way, you will not regret removing it if you need some stuff and cannot get it back.

Deleting Social Media Quotes That Inspired Me

The deleting social media quotes that inspired me through my journey of social detox were mainly from Daniel Radcliffe, Billie Eilish, and Ben Shelton.

1. Harry Potter’s famous actor Daniel Radcliffe said, ” If we go on Twitter and tell everybody what we’re doing moment to moment and then claim you want a private life, then no one is going to take that request seriously.” And this actually struck me deeply.
2. Billie Eilish was another inspiring celebrity who openly admitted in her interview that commenting on her social media was impacting her mental health, which made her delete all the social media apps from her phone.“I deleted it all off my phone… I don’t look at it anymore,” she said.  Looking at Billie Eilish, I could clearly see how negativity from social media can drain out even successful people on the right path, and why we need to stay close to our real selves, family, nature and people who actually admire us rather than criticise us because we do not fit their perfection standards.
3. Another example that really touched me personally was tennis player Ben Shelton, who admitted to deleting Twitter to avoid online nonsense to help focus on his training. For me this showed that removing digital noise can directly improve focus, productivity, and performance in real life. I could totally relate to his statement, and trust me, liking and commenting or constantly scrolling through timelines of your friends, or waking up to updating social media and sleeping, “goodbyeing” it is not really a healthy lifestyle.

Taking a social media break made me more productive, distanced me from toxic people, and helped me focus on my future and realistic goals with growth within just a few months’ time, showing how much I needed this break.

Deleting Social Media Benefits I Experienced

By deleting social media temporarily (Deactivating the accounts for a few months and removing the apps), including Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and Snapchat, I gained so many benefits.

• I connected with my real self after a long time. I started to understand myself better as I hardly had time for impulsive browsing to reflect upon my life and what I really needed.
• I was able to get closer to my family and friends who appreciated me for who I was and spent a beautiful time that no amount of Netflix and online browsing can replace.
• I was more goal-oriented and productive at my job. 
• I started to work on improving my healthy lifestyle with a healthy sleeping pattern and physical activities during times I wasted on impulsive browsing.
• I learnt to balance my work life with my personal life and was less stressed as I was now with family and peers or enjoying nature with coffee than watching meaningless videos for temporary happiness.

• I have now learnt to control my urge to pick up my phone a lot and waste my time on social media without any purpose.
• I now only use social media to follow the accounts and stay in touch with people who are actually in my personal circle, or are good mentors of personal and professional life  and add value to the time I spend engaging with them online. 

Do You Regret Deleting Social Media?

Although I did not delete it permanently, I do not regret deleting the apps and deactivating the accounts. 

I still have not been on Facebook for more than a year and no regrets to be honest. Similarly, I hardly use X other than for getting updates for news or my professional industry updates.

So no, deleting social media has not really caused any regrets. I am back at the platforms, but I use them wisely to gain more benefits out of them rather than wasting meaningless time on them.

How to Delete Facebook Permanently (Step-by-Step)

If you’ve decided you want a break from Facebook, you don’t always have to delete it permanently. You can deactivate it first to see how you feel without it. If it is fine, then you can delete it permanently like me.

Here’s exactly how I did it step by step:

• Log in to your Facebook account. Go to Facebook on your browser or open the app and log in as usual.
• Go to Settings. Click on your profile picture (top right on desktop or bottom menu on mobile), then scroll down to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
• Find Deactivation and Deletion. Scroll down to Accounts Centre → Personal Details → Account Ownership and Control. You’ll see two options:
  • Deactivate account (temporary)

  • Delete account (permanent)

• Choose what you want
  • If you just need a detox, select Deactivate Account. This will hide your profile and activity until you log back in.

  • If you’re 100% done with Facebook, select Delete Account. This is permanent, so I always recommend saving your data first.
• Confirm your choice. Follow the on-screen steps, enter your password, and confirm.

If you want to save your data before permanently deleting your Facebook account, here is what you can do:

• Before hitting delete, go to Settings > Your Facebook Information > Download Profile Information. This way, you’ll still have your photos, posts, and memories.

Facebook Alternative After Deletion

If you live far away from your family and friends, the next question in your mind after how to delete Facebook, might be what are the good alternatives to stay in touch with everyone. 

Well! You can always reach out to your family and friends using WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, and local means of SMS and calls.

How to Delete an Instagram Account Without Looking Back

To temporarily deactivate the Instagram Account for social media detox, the steps are:

1. Open Instagram and log in.
2. Go to your profile → menu (☰) → Settings & privacy.
3. Tap Accounts Centre → Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion.
4. Select the account → choose Deactivate account → follow prompts → enter password → Deactivate.
5. To come back anytime, just log in again. 

To delete Instagram permanently, and not regret it I recommend downloading your data first. The steps for it will be: Settings & privacy → Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Download your information.

Once you have downloaded the data, you can delete the Instagram account permanently by following these steps:

1. Go to Accounts Centre → Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion.
2. Select the account → choose Delete account → continue → enter password → Delete.
3. There’s a 30-day grace window, whereby logging in, you can cancel deletion; after that, your Instagram account is deleted permanently.

Deleting Instagram also removes your linked Threads account permanently.

How to Delete All Social Media Accounts (Full Detox)

Now that we know how to delete the two most hyped up social media platforms, for a short-term break or permanent deletion, the answer to “How to delete all social media accounts for full detox is sort of the same.

All social media platforms give you the choice of deactivating them temporarily and deleting permanently if you do not really feel like using them.  

All you need to do is go to account settings, and follow the deletion procedure for each platform, but do not forget to download your data just in case you might need to use it later on.

Social Media Detox Guide: My Personal Journey

If you really want to know my personal journey where I do not really regret the social media detox and never had the fear of missing out, then let me put it in an easy way, what was not tough on me.

Deleting vs Deactivating Social Media: What I Chose

I chose both, but I made my journey of detoxifying social media by taking small steps. 

• I first deactivated all of my accounts for one month. 
• In that first month, I took my journal and listed down my short-term and long-term life goals, both personal and professional.
• Professionals were easier, as I already had a fixed time for the job. What mattered most was personal life goals.
• I was not sleeping properly, and I was not exercising or eating healthy, with improper attention to family, as the mobile was always in my hand.
• I set my sleeping schedule, morning walks, reading, and a no-screen rule on meals with family, with a limited screen time for social media apps like YouTube and Reddit, but only for the sake of informational content related to fitness, profession, and learning new skills.
• Doing all these activities of real life, I found out how much time was being wasted on social media, helping me to let go of a few apps permanently, while keeping some for a healthy and informative timeline only.
• So first I deactivated, made a schedule, followed it, and later on it helped to replace screen time, helping me get rid of wasting time on social media permanently by deleting apps that were not adding real value.

Steps to Delete Social Media Accounts Safely

I will not make this too difficult. Just download your personal data before deleting the social media accounts, as later on, sometimes there is some stuff that we regret deleting.

So, before following the steps of deleting the social media accounts, the very first step should always be downloading personal data for each platform.

Deleting Personal Data from Social Platforms might be really important, but you never know if you may need some of it to remember good old online interactions or memories.

Deleting Social Media for Mental Health: What Changed for Me

Taking a break from social media has changed the whole perspective of my life. I am sure most of you who have been on the same journey will be able to relate to the following changes:

• Today I have full control over my use of social media. Before, social media was actually controlling my life. 
• Now, I do not wake up and spend an hour on the phone; rather, I wake up, meditate, spend an hour with myself and a cup of coffee or tea, feel the nature and then with a fresh mind get ready and head to the office.
• I sleep on time rather than wasting hours scrolling memes and videos, and sleep late and wake up tired and frustrated.
• I now follow accounts that add value to my professional and personal life, helping me excel both in my work life and also in my personal life by providing me tips on a healthy lifestyle and with ways to be grateful for family and time with nature and fitness journey.

Final Remarks

Deleting social media might not be an option for everyone, especially for Generation Z and Alpha, that has been born in the digital era. But sometimes we do need a break from it to get closer to ourselves, adapt healthy lifestyle habits or for mental health if facing depression and cyber bullying.

• You can really delete social media if it is impacting you negatively, or reduce its use or not let it take control of your life by only following the accounts that add value to your personal or professional life.
• Never forget to save your personal data before permanently removing social media accounts, and try to deactivate them for a month before making the decision to delete them, so it is a decision with no regrets.

If you love social media, and it does not impact you, then you don’t need to delete it. 

I hope you liked this personal experience, and I would love to hear yours in the comments section below.

Keep coming back for more digital and social media-related information on both practical and personal Digital Advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is it healthy to delete social media?

If it is impacting your mental health and productivity, then yes, deleting social media is a healthy choice.

• What’s the Best Alternative to Facebook After Deleting It?

WhatsApp, Telegram, local SMS and calling can be great alternatives to stay in touch with kins.

• Can deleting my Instagram account delete my linked Threads account?

Yes, deleting your Instagram account deleted your Threads account too.

• How long do I have to cancel the deletion of my account?

Most platforms give you a one-month period to cancel the deletion by logging back in if you change your mind.