A Guardian columnist tried turning off her Instagram algorithm for 24 hours, switching to a chronological feed of only accounts she follows, after the Australian government announced "world-leading" reforms to force social media platforms to let users opt out of algorithms under a "my feed, my way" policy. The experiment was prompted by her reflecting on how heavily she relies on algorithmic curation for entertainment, and it raises broader questions about whether returning to an older, unfiltered social media model would actually restore the more genuine, personal experience many people associate with the platforms' early years.

To make the test authentic, she unfollowed roughly 100 accounts that weren't people she knew personally, cutting out news outlets, politicians and influencers, and quickly exhausted her feed within about ten minutes, reaching an "End of following" message for the first time in years. Rather than feeling nostalgic, she found the stripped-back feed hollow, noting most remaining posts were still self-promotional, and concluded that opting out of algorithms alone may not solve social media's deeper problems, with abstaining from the apps altogether feeling more genuinely refreshing.