Monday, September 11, 2017

#MicroblogMondays: Friend??

Someone unfriended me on Facebook last week. I know, because I noticed my friend count had dropped by one.  Really, I'm not obsessed with the number of my FB friends (or accumulating more, more, more!!) -- but the number doesn't change much, so when it does, it's noticeable. I have no idea which friend it was or why they dropped me, and it's been driving me nuts. (Was it you??  lol) (I keep meaning to do a printout of my friends to refer to at times like these, but it never gets done.)

I've been unfriended a couple of times in the past (that I've noticed), and I always wonder what I did that prompted that person to drop me. (I've never been told I was being unfriended -- and I always assume that it's my "fault," of course...!)  I think I mentioned a while back that I realized I was unfriended earlier this year by a Trump supporter, directly after the U.S. presidential inauguration/Women's March. :(  The link there was pretty clear.  There are some people on my friends list that I wouldn't miss if they unfriended me -- but for many reasons, this one hurt. :(    

Sometimes I notice the number of my FB friends magically increases again. In at least one case, I learned that one of my friends hadn't really unfriended me;  she'd just been taking a social media break and suspended and then activated her account, which was a bit of a relief. (One of dh's cousins does this every year -- she gives up Facebook for Lent!) Sometimes a friend's disappearance has nothing to do with you and everything to do with what's going in their life at the moment. Or they're just tired of dealing with social media. A good lesson to learn...!   

I have never unfriended anyone myself. I HAVE "unfollowed" a few people whose posts I found offensive, or overwhelming (because of their sheer volume...!).

Have you ever "unfriended" anyone on Facebook, or been unfriended yourself? Does being unfriended bother you? 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.

9 comments:

  1. I've unfollowed people but rarely unfriended. The only people I would consider unfriending are ones I haven't seen in years and don't think I ever will again. I have had people unfriend me and it can be a little hurtful wondering why!

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  2. Ouch! It's sad when people feel the need to go to such extremes. But then again, I'm also a firm believer in "it's not about you," so I would run with that.

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  3. I've unfriended someone only once, and that was because this person turned out to be really nasty. Also, it was someone I had met socially just a couple of times, and I didn't need their nasty in my life. I tend not to unfriend though!

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  4. I tend to unfollow due to how often people post and sometimes the content. I rarely unfriend.

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  5. I've been unfriended a couple of times. The first time was after I'd unfollowed someone, as their photos of the dogs they were breeding just clogged up my feed. I guess she noticed I didn't comment or like anything she posted for a year or so! She was the only person I ever unfollowed, until late last year. I discovered a long time later that she'd unfriended me.

    The second time was an internet friend - someone I volunteered with for a year or so - who unfriended me, after we had a debate about something I knew more about than she did but she wouldn't agree with that. She's very opinionated, and I discovered some time later that I'd been dropped. I shrug - her loss! lol

    Others may have unfriended me, but I'm not aware of that. I've never unfriended anyone, perhaps because I'm very cautious about who I friend in the first place. I have several people's friend requests still waiting an answer, one for several years!

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  6. The only person I've ever unfriended was my ex stepmother; who didn't like me or my sister and that was part of the reason she divorced my dad...because she didn't like us and we are close to our dad. But she liked our brother.

    I usually unfollow people because I get tired of their crap. But never unfriend, except for above.

    But my SISTER unfriended me several years ago after I didn't make her center of attention on MY birthday. She is very narcissistic. I missed my nephews kindergarten graduation because of this tantrum of hers. After she friend requested me about about 6 months later I gave her the right act and told her never to do it again. I called her out on everything in a PM. I also said I would start making her pay for her kids tutoring if she did it again.

    I make her pay me to babysit but still tutor them for free.

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  7. Um, so I have a teenager and he has unfriended me on a few occasions when we've had big fights. I have unfollowed people and been unfriended by people that didn't surprise me. There have been two people who unfriended me out-of-the-blue and I didn't realize it until I tried looking them up and saw we were no longer friends. Oddly enough, one of them re-friended me, which I thought was awkward. Both are women I was friends with back in middle school. The one who unfriended me and never re-friended me I see from time-to-time and don't bother talking her when I do...

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  8. I haven't unfriended anyone. Once I found out that a friend unfriended me and it felt odd because in real life too she becomes my friend one day and stop being friend the next day. Why do that in FB too? Who knows. I decided not to accept the request if she decided to become friends again. ��

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  9. Oh man, that stinks when you realize you've been unfriended. It's an interesting thought, that this idea of "friends" in facebook can make it so if someone leaves your presence as a friend it's possible to not know who they are... It's part of the love/hate for Facebook that I feel. There is so much shallowness. I have only been unfriended once to my knowledge (it's entirely possible that I've been unfriended and didn't notice), and that was a very ugly situation but I was grateful because I don't unfriend people ever. I unfollow them, sure -- people whose posts make me too sad, or angry, or are pregnant (and then I re-follow after), but unfriending even sounds middle school-y. I've blocked people though, related to my ex-husband (family and friends I used to know), but we were never "friends" on facebook so that feels less icky and more like keeping my space safe. :) Such a weird virtual world, Facebook.

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