Disabling your Twitter account

There is no questioning the benefits of Twitter. It’s a convenient way to put your memes, world news and pop culture in one place.

But being an active Twitter user requires sifting through a daily flood of toxic characters, including QAnon, white supremacists, bots, deepfakes and more (although you can no longer find Donald Trump there). In addition, there is no denying the stress and anxiety that the fast pace of the Twitter news cycle and the tension of constantly debating respondents can bring.

Listen to me: you don’t have to use Twitter. I know it may seem like everyone else is using it, but you can be the change you want to see in the world. You can simply delete your account.

Don’t worry: it doesn’t have to be permanent. If you feel empty and directionless after doing this, you can recover your account within 30 days after the fact. But, if it gets too much again, go back to this article and follow the steps. There is a whole world outside your timeline to explore.

Disable your Twitter account in a browser

If you’re on a computer or mobile browser, go to Twitter.com and log into your account. To disable:

• On the web, click on the “More” item in the bottom left corner of the screen. In your phone’s browser, touch your profile icon.
• Select “Settings and privacy” and then “Your account”

• At the bottom of the list, tap “Disable your account”

• Go to the bottom of the page to find the “Disable” link

There will be a lot of information on the page before you access that link, some of it very useful. There is a complete description of what can no longer be viewed (your display name, @ username and public profile), a guarantee that you can restore your account “for some time” if it was accidentally or mistakenly deleted and a way to reactivate it after 30 days or 12 months (useful if you are being harassed and want to take a vacation from Twitter, instead of completely deleting your account).

There are also links if you just want to change your name, use your current name with a different account, or download your data from Twitter. The latter is always a good idea before deleting any account; Here’s the link.

Disable your Twitter account on the Twitter app

If you’re using a smartphone, access the Twitter app and make sure you’re signed in.

• Touch the three-line hamburger icon in the upper left corner. A menu will appear on the side. Touch “Settings and privacy” at the bottom.
• Touch “Account” at the top. On the account settings page, select “Disable your account” at the bottom

Some things to note:

• To reiterate: your account will not be permanently removed after this process. Twitter retains your information for 30 days before deleting it permanently. To restore your account, just sign in again.
• If you plan to create a new Twitter account with the same username and email address as the account you are deactivating, please change the current account to a different username and email address before deactivating
• If you want to download your Twitter data, do so before disabling. Twitter cannot send data from inactive accounts.
• Google and other search engines cache results, which means that your old profile and tweets may still appear in response to search queries occasionally. However, anyone who clicks on them will receive an error message.

Deactivating your account can be a nuisance, but for Twitter credit, it’s much simpler than the process of deleting some other services, like Uber and Lyft.

But where do I get my news and memes from now?

So Twitter got out of your life. Congratulations! But what are you going to do now that you don’t have an endless stream of tweets to go through? Here are some other things you can try in your new spare time.

• Mastodon. Mastodon is a decentralized version of Twitter, which journalists praised as “Twitter without Nazis”. Instead of a giant, hot mess on a website, you log in to different Mastodon “instances”, which are communities with different goals and themes. Instead of tweets, you post “toots” and they are limited to 500 characters. There is also an integrated content warning feature.
• Reddit. There are certainly some toxic places on Reddit, but unlike Twitter, you are not forced to pay attention to them. You can follow and subscribe to subreddits about anything that piques your interest, Star Trek for Furbies. Each subreddit has a clear set of rules and they are generally applied. And if you get tired of a subreddit, you can leave it without leaving the site.
• Tumblr. Tumblr is similar to Twitter in many ways, but it has some important differences. On the one hand, the follower count is not public, so some members do not have privileges over others in discussions or debates because of the size of their audience. Responses to other people’s posts don’t appear in your feed, so you don’t have to watch other users’ arguments unfold. And there is no character limit, so you can add some nuances to the opinions you post.
• Facebook. Yes, there are many horrible, terrible, not good, very bad things on Facebook. But if you miss keeping in touch with your family and friends on Twitter, you can also do that on Facebook. You will not be restricted by the character limit and you will not have to worry about someone outside your friends list seeing your content.
• Newspapers. This may shock you, but many media companies still sell physical newspapers and magazines. You can pick them up at newsstands, bookstores, coffee shops and even receive them straight into your mailbox if you buy a subscription. Instead of being bombed all day, you will receive your news in a digestible portion every morning. The best part: you will look cool and sophisticated to everyone around you.
• Just go to The Verge. Do not worry. We are always here to help you.

January 14, 2021 update, 1:45 pm ET: This article was originally published on February 25, 2020 and has been updated to take account of changes in the interface.