Instagram users increasingly wipe entire grids for fresh starts and rebranding

11 articles · Updated · Dazed · Apr 28

Content creators like Lillian Ahenkan and everyday users in cities from Brooklyn to Sydney are deleting all Instagram posts, sometimes repeatedly, to regain control over their digital presence.
This trend, once reserved for celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Charli xcx, now reflects broader anxieties about internet permanence, professional scrutiny, and personal identity among ordinary users.
The shift highlights a desire for impermanence in digital life, influenced by surveillance capitalism, evolving social media norms, and the pressure to curate or erase outdated aspects of one's online persona.

If users want to disappear, how can social media companies possibly survive?

Are we losing our personal histories by erasing our digital footprints?

Can erasing your online self truly fix the anxiety social media creates?

Will a 'clean slate' on social media help or hurt your career in 2026?

As surveillance grows, is deleting your data the only real privacy tool left?