When Facebook became widely popular, people started to perceive their success as the number of their friends and followers. Now, however, it seems like people are more interested in the quality of people they associate with. Hence, it may be a good idea to filter through your friends list once in a while.
So why don’t we unfriend on Facebook more?
I think at some point, we all have someone on our friends list we haven’t broken ties with. It could be a family member, a friend, or an ex. We feel the need to keep them on our social media for two main reasons. Either they didn’t delete you first or you don’t want to become THAT person who kept deleting friends. It could also be that secretly, you want to check in on them and see what they’re doing. It’s so tempting to learn about people you don’t like if you literally have the resources at your fingertips.
But if these people pop up on your newsfeed and their posts remind you of all the reasons why you stop interacting with them in the first place, are you really doing yourself any favors?
You can gain so much from a Facebook friends purge.
A few years ago, I did a Facebook friends purge. I cut ties with anyone who was no longer in my life or didn’t positively impact me. We as individuals owe it to ourselves to be surrounded by those who love and support us. When we’re with those who try to bring us down, we only hurt ourselves.
The “what-ifs” cause us to delay deleting someone. What if we make up? What if there’s an emergency and they need me? Trust me, in this day and age, if someone needed to contact you, they would find a way. Delaying it is just getting rid of the problem temporarily and instead turning it into something you’ll have to face again in a while. Because the more time we keep holding it off, the less likely we are going to do it at all.
Give yourself the space you deserve by only keeping those in your life who want what’s best for you and genuinely care about you. Both online and in real life. In instances where the role reverses and you are the one who gets deleted, it’s okay to be upset, but do not let it take over your self-esteem. And please, don’t allow yourself to go down the rabbit hole of thinking this is a bad idea because it leaves you analyzing any life decision you have made, including deleting that negative friend on Facebook. It also may or may not affect other people. Grieve over it, and then move on. Take time to invest in those who are still in your life.
Understand that life happens.
It carries us to different places at different times and brings people in and out of our lives, sometimes for reasons we may never understand. Everything happens for a reason. Allow yourself to go through the motions where emotions take you, but remind yourself of all of the positive people you’re connected with, and let that M.O. be the one reason you decide that today will be the day for a Facebook friends purge.
Feature image by Andrew Neel via Unsplash.
