If you’re watching this, you might just be curious. Maybe you’re wondering what happened when I unfollowed 400 people and muted my colleagues that I love and support. Or maybe you’re feeling the urge to do the same and need some clarity.

I’m Annie Miller, and I help coaches build sustainable, data-backed online health and fitness businesses — without selling your soul to vanity metrics. Today, I’m giving you full permission to take a breath, tune out the noise, and reevaluate what you’re consuming — and why.

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Why I Did a Mass Unfollow and Mute

Instagram is my jam. It’s my favorite platform — both as a consumer and as a business owner. But sometimes, it just gets too loud. When that happens, the best thing you can do is decrease your consumption. Massively.

Whether or not you’ve done a mass unfollow before, I want you to know you’re not alone if you’re feeling overwhelmed. I didn’t plan this. It wasn’t strategic. I just hit a point — early postpartum, high consumption, low creative output — where the scroll hole was dragging me down.

So I followed a simple process:

• Unfollow first — I opened my “following” list and rapidly unfollowed accounts. No overthinking. Just instinct. I think I started around 600+ and ended around 200.
• Mute second — After unfollowing, I went back through and muted people I care about but don’t need to see right now. That included friends, colleagues, and even clients.

Instagram lets you mute posts, stories, or both — and it’s honestly a lifesaver if you’re not quite ready to unfollow but need less content in your feed.

Bonus tip: If you’re in a season of creating more than consuming, muting is a game-changer.

Know Your Season

This is a huge takeaway. Know your season. If you’re in a time of low clarity and high consumption, you’re probably sitting in the middle of the comparison trap. It’s noisy. It’s unproductive. And it’s not helping anyone.

Mass unfollows and muting work best when:

• You’re overwhelmed by content
• You’re entering a creative season
• You’re preparing for a launch or heavy workload
• You notice other people’s voices bleeding into your own

I’ve done this before, and every time, it gives me space, peace, and clarity. Think of it like spring cleaning — for your digital brain.

What I Gained from Unfollowing 400 People

This part might surprise you — because I wasn’t expecting all of these outcomes either.

1. More Creativity

Literally the day I did the unfollow/mute combo, I had three video ideas come to me. I filmed and edited them immediately. I had the mental space to create.

Two of those videos went viral. The third performed well too. I also gained 4,000 new followers from that burst of focused creativity. Coincidence? I doubt it.

2. Less Time Consuming — More Time Closing the App

This was a natural side effect. With fewer people in my feed and stories, I spent way less time scrolling. I’d open the app, realize nothing was happening, and just close it. It was so much easier to disengage and move on with my day.

3. More Time with My Audience

Instead of watching everyone else’s Q&As, I started running more of my own — multiple times per week instead of just once. And guess what? That created even more content ideas.

It helped me reconnect with the reason I’m even on the app — to serve my people, not just scroll other coaches’ content.

Want help turning your audience interactions into actual content?
Read: How to Batch Content for Instagram

4. Better Relationships Off the App

Here’s something no one talks about: when you see your friends’ stories every day, you stop actually checking in. Unfollowing and muting reminded me who I genuinely missed hearing from — and who I didn’t think about at all.

That alone made me more intentional about relationships. I found myself texting people instead of passively watching their stories. It was refreshing.

Final Thoughts

Following colleagues can be inspiring — but it can also lead to subconscious plagiarism, noise in your brain, or just a mess of comparison. If you’re heading into a season of high creative output, consider giving yourself the space to think clearly again.

You don’t owe anyone an explanation. It is possible to love people and still mute them. You can support colleagues and still unfollow their content.

Will I always do this? No. I genuinely enjoy consuming content in other seasons. But when I need to create, this is what works.

So if you’re asking yourself whether to do a digital reset — unfollow, mute, or take space — this is your permission slip.

Need help organizing your creative headspace?
Check out: 4 Ways to Get Out of a Creative Block