These are the social media platforms we most want a detox from
Applying the term ‘detox’ to social media may not seem as farfetched as it might first appear. Many people become addicted to social media and use it even though they are deriving no significant pleasure from it. Hence, the interest in detoxifying from certain websites. Considering selective websites is different from a full-blown ‘digital detox’, which encompasses a period of time when a person voluntarily refrains from using digital devices such as smartphones, computers, and social media platforms.
Based on a U.K. survey, it appears that more people in Britain want to delete their Instagram account above any other.
This finding comes via VPNOverview.com, who have provided their analysis to Digital Journal. The company analysed the number of monthly Google searches in the U.K. for terms related to deleting accounts to see what platforms people most want a detox from.
This review found that media sharing social network Instagram was the platform people wanted to delete themselves from the most, with more than 321,000 searches a month from users wishing to do so.
Recently, Instagram came under fire and was accused of copying other competing platforms like TikTok after big changes were made to the app, with some of these changes now being reversed.
Facebook takes second place, with more than 82,000 searches a month in the U.K. At the end of 2021, Facebook saw its first-ever decline in the number of daily users using the platform and a 1% decline in revenue in the last quarter of 2022.
With more than 73,000 searches a month for information on deleting accounts, Snapchat takes third place. In July of 2022, Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, announced that they would be debuting Snapchat for Web, the first ever web version of the app since its initial release in 2011.
Plenty of Fish takes fifth place, with more than 23,000 searches around deleting accounts made every month in the UK. It’s the only dating app in the top ten, with Tinder narrowly missing out in 12th place with 8,500 searches.
The full rankings are:
| Rank | Platform | Monthly searches to delete account |
| 1 | 321,000 | |
| 2 | 82,000 | |
| 3 | Snapchat | 73,000 |
| 4 | 50,000 | |
| 5 | Plenty of Fish | 23,000 |
| 6 | 18,000 | |
| 7 | 14,000 | |
| 8 | Amazon | 13,000 |
| 9 | Kik | 12,000 |
| 10 | TikTok | 8,800 |
Online marketplace Amazon comes in eighth place on the list, with 13,000 searches from people wanting to delete their accounts every month. Amazon recently announced that it was increasing the cost of its Amazon Prime service by £1 a month in the UK, with annual memberships shooting up from £79 to £95.
Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from VPNOverview tells Digital Journal: “It’s interesting to see the contrast of platforms on the list, and how it’s not just social media that people want a cleanse from following controversies around privacy and data collection. Platforms offering subscription services like Amazon are also taking a hit, with the rising cost of living meaning many Brits are having to cut corners on things they use every day.”
