General Tips to Create Social Media Boundaries for Instagram + Social Media Platforms

No-Scroll Sunday

This is by far the best thing I’ve done for my mental health. Sundays are the day when I allow myself to completely recharge for the upcoming week. I find that if I let myself get lost in scrolling, I start the week already burnt out. Consider spending a Sunday where you don’t scroll, and maybe next thing you know, you’ll be starting your no-scroll Sunday early on Saturday. Who knows, maybe a social media-free weekend is exactly what you need to fend off those Sunday Scaries.

Turn Off Your Notifications

A stellar boundary I’ve found to be helpful throughout the work-week is to turn off all notifications. That’s right—email, Instagram, Twitter, news updates. All of them. I keep my texts and phone calls on so people can contact me, but not having my phone buzz every other minute has made it a lot easier for me to return to my phone with purpose and intention, instead of just mindlessly picking it up, checking a notification that was irrelevant, and then find an hour has passed and my neck has tensed up.

Turn those notifications off. Anyone who needs to reach you urgently will find a way to do so. Of course, you don’t have to start with all of them off, but maybe just try starting with a couple of apps to see how it feels.

Utilize the Mute Feature

When it comes to people’s Instagram stories or someone’s content popping up on your feed, utilize that mute feature (especially if you’re not quite ready to unfollow). Know that it’s okay to mute someone temporarily. If someone is just giving you bad vibes or is going through something that you don’t have the bandwidth to consume, it’s okay to take a break from it. It’s not harsh or mean; it’s a healthy boundary that you are allowed to set with no explanation.

Wondering how to mute someone on Instagram? If you want to mute someone’s stories, at the top of the feed, tap and hold the profile picture of the person whose story you'd like to mute. Select Mute, then tap Mute story. If you want to go through their profile, tap Following below their profile info, then tap Mute, and then you can decide if you want to mute their posts, stories, or both.

When in Doubt, Unfollow

While muting is totally valid and a good way to create space between you and someone’s content you don’t want to interact with, an important boundary to know is when it’s time to unfollow someone. If there’s a person that you need permanent space from, you just don’t vibe with it for whatever reason, know that it’s totally okay to unfollow.

A common misconception is that if you know someone in real life you have to follow them on social media. This isn’t true and, in fact, unfollowing may help you maintain the relationship long-term.

Another good thing to think about when looking at your following is: are you trying to spend less money? Maybe it’s time to unfollow all of the brand accounts. Are you trying to consume less content around diet culture? Maybe make sure that you’re not following anyone who is promoting something that makes you feel bad about yourself.

It’s always a good idea to go through and do a purge of who you’re following every once in a while. And, at the end of the day, if you just don’t want to interact with that person at all, blocking them is okay, too.

Change Your Mindset

Do you ever find yourself waking up and the first thing you do in the morning is grab your phone to go scroll? Do you shame yourself for doing that? One of the best pieces of advice I have ever gotten about this was from TikTok creator, Frankie Simmons. She says that shifting our social media habits—from a judgmental place to a more compassionate place—helps shift our relationship to the platforms all around.

Instead of judging yourself for scrolling first thing in the morning, see it as a place to welcome joy and playfulness. If you need to spend 15 minutes looking at cute animal videos in the morning to keep your eyes open so you can get your day started, know that’s okay! Inviting compassion into our social media habits is a great way to shift our overall relationship with them. 

Creating Boundaries on Social Media for Content Creators

If you’re someone who makes Instagram or TikTok content, you could benefit from all the above tips I’ve shared, but it’s also beneficial to have some boundaries around creating content. Here are some I’ve personally set to make sure I’m connected in my real life and avoid burnout.

Create Content that Is Authentic to You (& You Only!)

Okay, hear me out. I know that content creators are constantly thinking about what their audiences want to see. This is absolutely something you should consider when building an online community, but only create content that feels authentic to you. If you’re pretending to be something or someone else, you will get so tired so quickly. It’s okay to ask your audience what they’d like to see, but your following should be there for exactly how you want to show up. If someone wants to leave, they can. Your people will find you, I promise. 

Not Everything Needs to be Captured

A soapbox I’ve recently found myself on is that not every moment, morning, or outfit needs to be captured. There’s no judgment here and if you do want to capture things consistently, I celebrate you in that. But if you are finding that you’re burnt out, try to spend a slow morning without the camera recording.

Get dressed without thinking about if it will look good in a mirror selfie. Again, this is a judgment-free zone, but being present may help you feel more connected with your values, relationships, and self if you’re feeling a little disconnected.

Hide the Likes On Instagram

Instagram came out with a feature recently where you are able to hide likes. I highly recommend utilizing this feature. When you are not paying attention to how many likes one photo got in comparison to someone else’s, it takes so much of the stress off. Whether you want to admit it or not, the comparison game can be strong some days.

Hide the likes and remember that you posted what you did because you liked it and were excited about it. As social media educator, Jera Foster-Fell says, it’s not all about vanity metrics. It’s about being yourself and remembering that you are someone’s favorite, no matter the likes or views.

Tell Your Followers How to Interact with You

One of the parts about social media that can be both the most fulfilling and the most draining are direct messages (DMs). Make it really clear to your followers how you want to be approached in your DMs. A great way to set these expectations is to share them on Instagram stories and then create a highlight that contains all of that information.

Some of these boundaries around DMs can look like asking your followers to ask if you have the space to answer in-depth questions before asking it, not dumping something really emotional into your inbox without consent, or simply saying “Hi!” before asking where something is from (because content creators are, in fact, not a search engine). Bottom line: set expectations that feel aligned with your boundaries so your space continues to feel like a safe place where you can show up.

There can be a lot of talk about social media being bad for our mental health, which can absolutely be true if there aren’t adequate boundaries in place. But, if we use Instagram and other social media platforms as a way to connect, be inspired, and let our creativity shine, they can be places where we go to recharge. With that recharge on-screen comes a necessary recharge off, as well. Next time you feel yourself tense up or in a doom-scrolling hole, pause, take a deep breath, put the phone on Do Not Disturb for a while, and come back with these tips in mind.