There’s no questioning the advantages of Twitter. It’s a handy option to get your memes, world information, and popular culture sizzling takes multi functional place.

But being an lively Twitter person requires sifting by way of a every day deluge of poisonous characters, together with QAnon, white supremacists, bots, deepfakes, and extra (though you’ll be able to’t discover Donald Trump there anymore). Plus, there’s no denying the stress and nervousness that the quick tempo of Twitter’s information cycle and the pressure of regularly debating reply guys can carry.

Hear me out on this: you don’t even have to make use of Twitter. I do know it would look like everybody else is utilizing it, however you will be the change you wish to see on this planet. You can simply delete your account.

Don’t fear: it doesn’t need to be everlasting. If you end up feeling empty and directionless after doing this, you may get your account again as much as 30 days after the actual fact. But if it ever will get to be an excessive amount of once more, simply come again to this text and observe the steps. There’s an entire world exterior of your timeline to discover.

Deactivate your Twitter account in a browser

If you’re on a pc or in a cell browser, go to Twitter.com and log in to your account. To deactivate:

• On the online, click on the More merchandise on the bottom-left of the display screen. On the cell browser, faucet your profile icon.
• Select Settings and Privacy after which Your account

• At the underside of the checklist, faucet Deactivate your account

• Go to the underside of the web page to seek out the Deactivate hyperlink

There’s going to be quite a lot of data on the web page earlier than you get to that hyperlink, a few of it fairly helpful. There’s a full description of what is going to not be viewable (your show identify, @username, and public profile), an assurance that you may restore your account “for some time” if it was by chance or wrongfully deleted, and a option to reactivate after 30 days or 12 months (helpful if you happen to’re being besieged and wish to take a trip from Twitter quite than delete your account fully).

There are additionally hyperlinks if you happen to simply wish to change your identify, use your present identify with a special account, or obtain your Twitter knowledge. This final one is all the time a good suggestion earlier than you delete any account; here’s the link.

Deactivate your Twitter account within the Twitter app

If you’re utilizing a smartphone, go to the Twitter app and ensure you’re logged in.

• Tap your profile icon within the top-left nook. A menu will come out from the aspect. Tap Settings and privateness on the underside.
• Tap Your account on the high. On the Your account web page, choose Deactivate Account on the backside.

Just a few issues to notice:

• To reiterate: your account received’t be completely gone after this course of. Twitter retains your data for 30 days earlier than deleting it completely. To restore your account, log again in and ensure that you just wish to reactivate your account.
• If you intend to create a brand new Twitter account with the identical username and e-mail deal with because the account you’re deactivating, swap the present account to a special username and e-mail deal with earlier than you deactivate
• If you wish to obtain your Twitter knowledge, do this earlier than deactivating. Twitter can’t ship knowledge from inactive accounts.
• Google and different engines like google cache outcomes, which means your previous profile and tweets should pop up in response to look queries every now and then. However, anybody who clicks them will get an error message.

Deactivating your account could be a problem, however to Twitter’s credit score, it’s way more simple than the method of deleting another companies, resembling Uber and Lyft.

But the place will I get my information and memes now?

So Twitter is gone out of your life. Congratulations! But what is going to you do now that you just don’t have a endless barrage of tweets to scroll by way of? Here are another issues to strive along with your newfound free time.

• Mastodon. Mastodon is a decentralized model of Twitter, which journalists have praised as “Twitter without Nazis.” Rather than one large sizzling mess of a web site, you log in to totally different “instances” of Mastodon, that are communities with various functions and themes. Instead of tweets, you submit “toots,” and so they have a 500-character restrict. There’s additionally a built-in content material warning function.
• Reddit. There are actually some poisonous locations on Reddit, however in contrast to Twitter, you’re not compelled to concentrate to them. You can observe and subscribe to subreddits about something that strikes your curiosity, from Star Trek to Furbies. Each subreddit has a transparent algorithm, and so they’re normally enforced. And if you happen to get bored with a subreddit, you’ll be able to go away it with out leaving the web site.
• Tumblr. Tumblr is just like Twitter in some ways, but it surely has a few key variations. For one, follower counts aren’t public, so sure members aren’t privileged over others in discussions or debates due to their viewers’s dimension. Replies to different folks’s posts don’t present up in your feed, so that you don’t have to look at different customers’ arguments devolve. And there’s no character restrict, so you’ll be able to add some nuance to the opinions you submit.
• Facebook. Yes, there are quite a lot of horrible, horrible, no good, very unhealthy issues about Facebook. But if you happen to miss the flexibility to maintain up with household and mates on Twitter, you are able to do that on Facebook, too. You received’t be constrained by the character restrict, and also you received’t have to fret about anybody exterior of your pals checklist seeing your content material.
• Newspapers. This would possibly shock you, however loads of media firms nonetheless promote bodily newspapers and magazines. You can choose them up at newsstands, bookstores, and low outlets and even have them delivered proper to your mailbox if you happen to purchase a subscription. Rather than being bombarded all day, you’ll get your information in a digestible chunk every morning. The better part: you’ll look cool and complicated to everybody round you.
• Just go to The Verge. Don’t fear. We’re all the time right here for you.

Update April 14th, 2022, 10:10 AM ET: This article was initially printed on February twenty fifth, 2020, and has been up to date to account for interface adjustments.