We love Instagram but sometimes a quick scroll on the social networking site perusing yet another influencer’s incredible jaunt to Bali can leave us feeling insecure, inadequate and, quite frankly, miserable.
Thankfully, Instagram has put its users’ mental health at the top of its priority list. After banning plastic surgery filters and hiding likes, the app is allowing you to ‘Marie Kondo‘ your feed.
“Curating an Instagram feed that ‘sparks joy’, as Marie Kondo would say, is one way you can get inspired and feel positive this year,” said an Instagram spokesperson.
To help you do that, Instagram is introducing “Most Shown in Feed” and “Least Interacted With” – a new way for you to better see and manage who you follow on Instagram (i.e. less smug avocado on toast snaps and more cute puppy pictures FTW).
With this new feature you’ll have quick access to see the accounts you follow, organised by category, and will be able to edit from there so if someone you follow doesn’t spark joy, cull them.
Here’s how it works:
- Go to your Instagram Profile and click on “Following”
- From there, you’ll see Categories, including “Most Shown in Feed”, “Least Interacted With”
- You can manage the accounts you follow easily from there – by changing your follow status or clicking the 3 dots to Manage Notifications or Mute the account.
- If you didn’t know, you can also sort your following list from earliest→ latest followed, or vice versa (giving you insight on your first Instagram follow )
To help users make the most of the feature and create their own feel-good feed, the gurus at Instagram have pulled together inspirational accounts they think everyone should follow to spark joy in their next scroll…
Feel-good accounts to follow on Instagram
Radhika Sanghani @radhikasanghani (5k followers)
Radhika is a journalist and author who started the body positivity campaign #sideprofileselfie (over 6k posts), to celebrate the side profiles of noses that may not fit in with typical European beauty standards, but are still just as beautiful. She uses Instagram to show off her own side profile, update her followers on what she’s doing with the movement (be it TV appearances or written pieces) and share what is generally happening in her life.
Sofie Hagen @sofiehagendk (49k followers)
Sofie Hagen is an award-winning comedian, author and fat acceptance campaigner. She uses Instagram to encourage people to stop fat shaming others and is on a mission to change the negative way people talk about weight.
Nathan Pyle @nathanwpylestrangeplanet (2.5m followers)
Nathan W. Pyle is a writer and cartoonist noted for creating the popular Strange Planet webcomic series, which depicts aliens dealing with commonplace human situations. The heart-warming cartoons provide the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern-day living.
Mo Gilligan @mothecomedian (506k followers)
Mo Gilligan is a stand-up comedian and TV presenter whose nationwide Coupla Cans tour broke records. He regularly uploads comedy skits on his feed and Stories, helping you get your daily dose of laughs. Food and celebs might seem like a bizarre combination, but by photoshopping Meryl Streep’s head on to tasty treats and picking out Drake’s catchiest lyrics, @tasteofstreep (239k followers) and @drakeoncake (222k followers) show why it’s actually a match made in heaven – delish!