The click of a mouse and now everyone knows you are single!
Everyone in their life experiences that dreaded moment of breaking up with someone or being broken up with, yet in today’s world this process has become even more complicated. There was once a time when you simply ignored phone calls or forced yourself not to call that past love or mistake, but now a clean break is almost impossible because of social media as well as texting. Nowadays it is common for an ex to be merely a text away and oddly enough your “friend” on facebook, which can easily and constantly remind a person about their past relationship because of mutual tagged photos. This makes it all so hard to completely disconnect with a person and stunts the process of closure that is usually very necessary at the end of a relationship. Texting and the hyper-connection of social media are all fine and dandy if you can handle remaining friends with an ex but for most people it’s usually a source of upset and drama.
The event of breaking up has become in many ways embarrassing because “everyone” knows about the failure of a relationship when a person’s facebook status changes from “In a Relationship” to “Single”. The worst part is people can comment on the situation and facebook friends can even “like” your entrance into singlehood. Instead of a reassuring phone call or face-to-face talk explaining to friends what happened, many times texting replaces what I feel is essential to moving on, which is just talking about it, especially with close friends. The times have changed and people have changed too. It has become a social norm to be insensitive to others during a never easy experience and to make moving on so much harder than it really needs to be. It’s for that very reason that I feel when changing your relationship status on facebook you should immediately delete the post after doing so or make it private, unless it’s something you’d like to share with your facebook friends. But for most part, the experience is quite the nuisance, so to avoid the possibility of hurting your own feelings or your ex’s it’s probably not the best idea to advertise your breakup. However, when the times comes that you’d like to make others aware you are single, make it public on your info page to get the point across.
Heated debate exists around whether or not it’s okay to remain friends with an ex on facebook, my feelings and advice depend on whether the break up was “bad” or not. Everyone is curious as to what their ex is up to after breaking up but it’s not healthy to be updated every passing second of your life! If you find yourself checking their page obsessively and notice it pretty much always leaves you with a feeling of discomfort then I suggest not being friends with your ex on facebook. To forget someone these days you need to delete him or her from your electronic life, cell contacts, as well as from your own biting reality. On the other hand, if you find yourself not caring about your ex’s life appearing on yours newsfeed then you can leave it alone. It’s usually okay to stay facebook friends if the breakup was mutual and ended without hard feelings. It can be nice to see how people grow and change by checking out their facebook profile. But let’s be realistic the majority of breakups are messy and emotional catastrophes, so it’s almost a guarantee that your facebook wall could end up looking like a battlefield of love.
It’s important to do what’s best for you in a time were your discovering life on your own, or preparing to successfully share it with someone new. Some say it’s harsh to delete a person representative of your past but here’s the truth: they broke up with you or you broke up with them already, which is as harsh as you can get, so why not take the extra step to make yourself feel better? You need to get away from it all but that doesn’t mean you have to book a super shuttle ride to the airport and hop on a plane. I’ve also been told that deleting an ex from your contacts is necessary because many people text their ex’s at emotionally unstable times causing confusion about the state of the relationship. Being happy is what matters most and if you can’t find happiness while constantly being reminded of your ex then you should make the change that is necessary to evolve on your own, and free yourself from that particular relationship. After all, there is so much more out there than the simulated life you “live” on facebook and so much more to say when you’re not constricted to 180 words or less by text.
-Anjelica LaFurno
Visit my tumblr here
Image Credit: someecards.com
Click to get a coupon for Super Shuttle and other great Student Discounts!
And download our NEW App on iTunes!
Become a fan on Facebook and follow us on twitter!
Don’t forget to sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter for student promotions and coupons and download the coupon booklet NOW
