Maybe you’re tired of feeling compelled to constantly check your news feeds. Or maybe you signed up for accounts that you never ended up using. Or maybe your name is Donald Trump and you’re having second thoughts about picking fights with Mexican drug lords via Twitter.

Whatever the reason, there are times when you might want to kill one or more of your social media accounts. But it turns out that it isn’t always obvious how to do so. (After all, these services definitely don’t want you to go.)

That’s why we’ve compiled this quick-and-easy guide to unplugging from the most popular social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.



Ta-ta, Twitter

1. Go to Twitter.com, click on your profile image in the top right corner of the screen and select Settings. (Note: you can only do this from the desktop version of the site, not in the mobile apps.)



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2. Scroll to the bottom and click Deactivate My Account.



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4. You’ll then be taken to a second page asking if you really want to delete your Twitter account. To confirm that you do, click Deactivate <account name>, the enter your password in the dialogue box on the next page and click Deactivate account.

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Your profile won’t be deleted immediately, though. If you have a normal Twitter account, you’ll have 30 days to sign in again and reactivate your profile. If you’re a verified user, you have a full year. Once that time is up, though, your profile will be gone forever.

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