Personally, one of my top resolutions for this year is to improve my relationship with social media. While some people might opt to go cold turkey and delete all their accounts, for others (like myself), that approach feels a bit too extreme. It’s understandable to want to take a break, but that doesn’t always seem realistic or necessary. And while it’s motivating to set big goals for 2025, it can also be disheartening when those goals feel unattainable or too daunting to reach. This is why having a more manageable, achievable plan for your New Year’s resolutions can make all the difference.
With that in mind, I’ve decided that I want to feel more empowered by the content I see online rather than allowing it to bring me down or drain my energy. Instead of cutting social media out of my life entirely, I’ve realized there are simple, effective ways to reshape the content I engage with. By adjusting my social media algorithms, I can curate an experience that aligns better with my interests and well-being.Â
For anyone else who feels overwhelmed by the content they’re exposed to, I’ve compiled six easy hacks for adjusting your social media algorithms. These tricks will help ensure the apps you choose to use in 2025 serve you in a way that supports your goals, not detracts from them.
- Follow those who bring you joy.
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If there are creators who bring joy and make you feel good about your life and yourself, those are the ones to follow, rather than following someone just because you know them or they’re famous — or even worse, hate-following people. There are some influencers and celebrities who were making me feel bad about myself, to no real fault of their own, so I unfollowed them. Removing them from my feed was better for me in the long run. Those people who you follow will appear in your feed, especially when you first follow them, and as you like more of their videos. While you may also see content from people who you don’t follow, it will be much less frequent. Â
- Ration your likes and comments.
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Most social media algorithms work like this: The less interaction a specific creator or type of content gets from you, the algorithms “learn” that you don’t want to see that content, and therefore it will serve you less of it. Similarly, the more posts you interact with from a certain creator or category, the more similar posts will show up on the FYP.
- Befriend the search bar.
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Basically every social media app has a search bar, and it’s there for a reason. If I want to see an edit of TimothĂ©e Chalamet, I’m going to search for one. And by searching for it, I’m telling the algorithm that this is the type of content I want to see more of, and therefore, I’m teaching it to show me more similar content in the future.
- Don’t Fear The Block Button.
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To me, blocking someone used to seem rude. But I’ve learned that there are creators (or even people I know IRL) whose content just doesn’t serve me — or could even be harmful. So, when these types of creators come up on your feed, rather than hate-viewing their posts, there’s no shame in just blocking them. They will essentially become invisible, and it could even teach your algorithm to keep similar content away from you in the future. Further, apps like Instagram even allow you to block hashtags and keywords that you don’t want to see, and therefore any content that uses those hashtags and keywords will be hidden from you as well.
- Engage with hashtags and keywords you enjoy.
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On the flip side, interacting with keywords and hashtags is another great way to train your algorithms. If a video or post comes up that represents what you want to see, look at the hashtags, and see if there are more posts under certain hashtags that you enjoy. In terms of keywords, everyone has special interests and likes, and the simplest way to see more of those things online is to search and interact with keywords related to them. For example, liking videos with “feminist pop music” or “body neutrality” in the caption will help you get access to more similar videos.
- Do a full factory reset.
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This is for the most dire of situations, but for those who just want a clean slate, create all new accounts. If you’re nervous to fully let go, you can still hold on to your old accounts if you ever want to go back to them, but with fresh accounts, none of the content you followed or interacted with will be part of these new profiles. Starting over means building an algorithm from the ground up, which would certainly accomplish your goal of refreshing your social media algorithms.