Unsubscribe: How To Simplify Your Internet Life
Overwhelmed by e-newsletters, tweets, rss feeds, status updates and instant messaging?
Unsubscribe.
What?!!! You can’t be serious.
Absolutely. There’s no Internet law preventing you from doing it (despite what the hidden continuity Internet marketing guys say).
Rank every e-newsletter, blog rss feed, social media/social networking subscription you’ve got one-by-one…then trash 90% of them.
How?
Let’s start with your e-newsletter subscriptions. Rank them in order of importance to your life (what you actually read as opposed to should read). If you’ve got 20 subscriptions, unsubscribe from newsletters ranked #3 through #20 (that’s 9/10 i.e. 90%).
Move to Twitter. Rank those you’re following and then unfollow 90%.
RSS Feeds – rank and unsubscribe.
Facebook – rank and block/defriend.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Then put a tickler in your calendar to remind you every 30 days to repeat this exercise.
The sun will rise tomorrow, you’ll feel less overwhelmed by “should do” and information overload.
Who knows? Maybe in a month you’ll be ready to go unwired 1 or 2 days per week.
Yes, there is a life outside of cyberspace. Try it.
About the Author
With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 15 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young is President of the Internet Ethics Council and creator of Website Legal Forms Generator software. He helps entrepreneurs protect and grow their businesses online.
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Hi Mike,
I just had to comment on this one.
I love it!
I’ve been deleting 10 to 20 twitter followers a day for a week plus now.
I’m actually beginning to enjoy it again, seeing people that I want to see.
Thanks for the great article!
Twenty Twenty
Thanks for the comment, Twenty Twenty. Simplification works when it comes to social media.
Entirely consistent with the 80/20 Principle.
Best wishes,
-Mike
i want to unsubscribe facebook.