Social Media and Relationships

Picture this: You log onto Facebook, and do your normal routine and realize, you are minus one friend. Normally you would shrug this off, but curiousity kicks in: who removed me from Facebook? Do I know him or her? Are we friends? Have we talked? Before you know it, you are on a mission to find who deleted you off Facebook (or any platform) and come to realize it is not a big deal.

I understand the awkwardness and feeling of being removed from any social media account. It's not fun, but it isn't impossible to get over. When I first experienced this, I honestly felt hurt. I wondered why someone would delete me from Facebook, because I never did anything personal to hurt them and I wasn't someone who constantly posted status updates, and shared articles. So what did I do? I realize now, people go off and delete people they haven't talked to in a few years, regardless of their relation. It doesn't matter how you met, or how long you've known each other, it is bound to happen at some point and it is important to accept this fact. 

Being aware of the concept of being deleted from social media accounts, and the impact it has on connection, and relationships, proves how impactful and strong this outlet is. Before our generation had any source of online connection, you wouldn't go up to your friend and say "I'm deleting you from my life." You just wouldn't talk to them - but now, it's a time where we sort of say "I am removing you from my life" and this removes most communication and relationship from happening again.  

I read an article once, and the author explained how removing someone from Facebook is counterproductive. In fact, it shouldn't be done because you lose professional connections. If an old friend is hired at a new job in your field, and either you or her deleted each other, you have no means of finding the said company, or be able to use the person as reference (and vice versa). A question you should ask yourself is, if you have removed a whole bunch of people from social media, then it is possible that person has felt the same way. Regardless, it's been done and it isn't impossible to get over. A possible solution instead of removing a whole bunch of people, is to create a fresh, new Facebook or social media account. I've seen tons of my friends do this, and instead of deleting hundreds, they only re-add about 60 people or so. 

The choice is up to you.