There comes a time in everyone’s social media life where they must unfollow/unfriend people on various platforms. Facebook is one of those places where it is a chosen community of people you are connecting with and sometimes their posts can either be repetitive and sometimes offensive. Granted there no two people who agree with each other 100% of the time, and that is OK. It’s only when those people ramp up the rhetoric, whether it be political, religious or social commentary that can be very negative, that you have to make that decision on your connection status.
In America we are in the midst of an election campaign season where we will go to the polls in 2016 to elect a new president and other federal offices. Canada just completed that cycle recently and sometimes being on social media can be challenging when it comes to politics because it can be personal. It’s the constant barrage of posts that come from friends who post mean spirited things that can test your relationship status.
Religious and social commentary can be divisive too. We have all seen the issues such as faith, gender, orientation and the like that people fall on different sides of. To me it’s OK to disagree on some things, but you know it’s amazing to see the venom on your screen from people who you thought were reasonable and kind. It can be disappointing to see comments that are out there for the world to see and you wonder what is the source of their ire.
I know there are people who have unfollowed/unfriended me for various reasons and that is OK. Perhaps this is an opportunity for all of us to examine our friendships and who we are as individuals who have a right to feel the way they want to about all the stuff going on in the world. It is OK to be sad when your friendships change, that is life.
Then there are sports rivalries and that can be just as contentious as politics, religion and social issues. Especially on rivalry days.
Unfriending, Unfollowing, it happens and you have to move on. Sometimes you just have to cut ties.