I'm lucky in that I like building and after 4 years have enough of my own Sims and Lots to use so I've turned off all connections that link me to the Gallery, Origin in game, notifications, sharing etc., etc and all that I can find in Options. The game is so much easier to load and play now so I'm going to stay like this for the couple of months I assume it might take to get back to normal!
I've never tried this before as I was a bit addicted to the Gallery and had accumulated eleven followers over the years so am going to play and see what the consequences in game are.
