FEED_ZERO
> INITIATING PROTOCOL: PURGE
> INITIAL_FOLLOWIND: 842
> TARGET_FOLLOWING: 0
> OBJECTIVE: Destroy the Algorithm's hold on my attention.
// THE PROCESS
Unfollowing is harder than following. Instagram limits you to about 50 unfollows an hour (to stop bots). It took me 3 days to manually click "Unfollow" on 842 people. High school friends. Exes. Meme pages. News outlets. Influencers. Each click felt like a tiny funeral. "Goodbye, person I haven't spoken to since 2014."
// THE DAY AFTER
I opened the app. Usually, I am assaulted by noise. Today:
[SUGGESTED FOR YOU]
The "Following" Feed was dead. Silence. But then... the Algorithm panicked. Since it had no data on "Who I like," it started showing me Suggested Posts in the main feed. Genetic slime videos. Pimply popping videos. Softcore thirst traps. The mask slipped. Without my curation, Instagram is just a trash receptacle.
// THE REELS TAB
This was the scary part. The Reels tab doesn't care who you follow. I could still scroll for 2 hours. Unfollowing everyone does NOT fix the addiction. The addiction is not to "People." The addiction is to "Content." Even with 0 friends, the casino is open.
// THE SOCIAL FALLOUT
Two friends texted me. "Did we fight? You unfollowed me." I had to explain. "No, it's an experiment." They didn't believe me. To unfollow is an act of aggression in 2025. It implies "I cut you off." We have monetized our attention as affection. Withholding attention = Withholding love.
// CONCLUSION
An empty feed is peaceful for about 10 minutes. Then you realize the app hates emptiness. It will fill it with ads and strangers. The only way to win is not to "Curate" the feed. The only way to win is to delete the app. (Which I re-downloaded 2 days later. I am weak).