This election has been tough on social media, regardless of what side you are on. There have been hurt feelings and arguments and an endless slew of fake news being shared over and over again. And at times it can be fun to sit back and watch an argument in the comments section, pull up your popcorn and hit refresh. But other times it felt better to quickly scroll past and hope that it would go away. It can be disheartening to see so much drama in the land of memes, cat videos and cute kid pictures. It can also be annoying to see your news feed filled with politics when all you wanted was some mindless amusement.
I can admit I did a lot of unfollowing this election season. Unfollowing is the passive aggressive way of ridding yourself of someone’s Facebook misdeeds. It’s the button you use for the co-worker who posts a meme every 5 minutes or for the dude from high school who keeps sharing death metal videos. It gets them out of your feed but your still friends.
So yesterday I went to unfollow someone and Facebook gave me the option of viewing everyone I had unfollowed. Honestly there were a lot of people who I have unfollowed in my decade on Facebook, most were not for political reasons, some of these people I couldn’t even remember why I unfollowed them and more importantly why we were even friends to begin with.
It was then I decided that I my friends list was getting a makeover,or a make under or as I’m calling it Frexit, and yes I’m getting rid of people who I don’t necessarily agree with. And I know, I know we need to not live in a vacuum of people who agree with us. I agree with that 100% but when you find yourself embattled in a toxic relationship with someone who barely spoke to you in high school it’s time to Frexit. When someone you wouldn’t invite into your home is blowing up the comments section of your post it’s time to Frexit. When the girl you worked with for a month in 2014 is filling your news feed with fake news, and I don’t just mean politics, I’m talking health news, celeb news anything that is not true and can easily be proved false by a snopes search, you need to Frexit. When you tell someone the news is fake and link them to the story and they say,”they don’t care if it’s fake because it suits their beliefs” it’s time to Frexit.
Because these people are not people you can have a civil conversation with. I’m all for a civil discussion of politics. In fact I think we need more civil discussions of politics. I think we need to stop making talking about politics taboo and start having real conversations about issues and concerns. I think the left and right would be surprised that they have more in common than they think. And if you really were friends you would be able to respect each others opinion.
So if there are people in your Facebook life who there is no hope for civil conversation, who if you saw them in Shop Rite you might dart down the aisle to avoid them, if they are fake news and conspiracy theory pushers, if they are filling your feed with hate, if they are trolling your posts and blowing up your comments section, if they are attacking your friends comments on your posts. Then the unfriend button is your friend. Because I wouldn’t allow that kind of behavior in my home and I’m not going to allow it on my Facebook page.
I completely agree with your decision for the reasons stated. I found myself doing exactly the same for the same reasons. Ultimately you’ll be much happier. Aware I strongly disagreed with you on political issues, if you feel compelled to delete me I will fully understand. Your choice.