This is how I behave in the office… is that wrong?
Hey, if that’s how you wanna live life, go right ahead. I don’t care. But I also know that I have run into people that I have unfriended (long ago) and it was awkward.
An old friend I went to movies with and even went to his house for Easter on a whim a few years ago unfriended me. It appeared he did that with a few people. He is an usher at a theater I go to, so I see him semi-often. Stupid move on his part. I saw him on the street a few weeks ago, getting ice cream with a girl he was trying to date (so it appeared). I considered saying hi, asking how things were, (pretending nothing was wrong) introducing myself to her…and then saying to the girl “Can you believe this guy unfriended me on facebook?” Because I had nothing to lose and I could have ruined his evening.
You never know, they could also help you get a job/network in the future. I met my future spouse through a friend I sort of disliked and now loathe. My good friend had just taken the MCAT, and wanted a party to go to. I picked the good friend up and took her to loathesome friend’s apartment-warming party. If I’d severed connections with her because I didn’t like her facebook statuses (and I didn’t) or disagreed with her personal decisions (I did) I never would have met him.
So unfriend only if there is literally a 0% chance you will ever run into them again. But seriously though, it is 100% easier to create a friend list where they can’t see much. I suggest people do this for their work colleagues and their family members.
You really think you would have ruined his evening? Chances are the would-be date would have just asked: “What’s with the Facebook-stalker?” when you left.
Methinks you have a touch too much emotional invested in Facebook if you think it’s that big a deal.
Ruined his chances at least. It crossed my mind, I didn’t do it obviously. But the passive-aggressiveness that is Facebook unfriending is obviously the real problem here.
Uh… ooookay.
Let’s just say, if you had done that, and I was the girl, we would have laughed about you for hours. I’m snickering even now. The funniest part would be your conviction that “You unfriended me!” would be some sort of brutally cutting social slur.
That’s amusing, because I’ve laughed at your old-person-on-teh-internets naivete this entire thread.
Seriously though, cut the snark. The point is there are many better options to dealing with an irritating Facebook friend than by unfriending them.
I disagree. I utterly and completely disagree that if you don’t want to hear from or about someone “unfriending” is a wrong action.
"My “naivete” is how me and my facebook friends actually relate. You’re living in your reality, and I’m living in mine. It’s just that if someone thinks I’m boring, or talk too much about my cats, or have unsavory opinions, or realizes they just don’t care about me, I’m fine with that. They should defriend me. I don’t feel that it is a cruel social insult, nor is it a comment on my objective worth as a human being, and you’re not going to convince me that it is.
And some of my best friends are under 30!
So, you define “naivete” as the ability to distinguish Facebook from real life?
Yeah… not so much. Again, I’m pretty sure the girl he was hitting on would have just said: “Wow. You dodged a bullet!” Most people above the age of 15 don’t take “unfriending” has a major, personal affront, or a major ettiquette faux pas, or a “passive-aggressive problem.”
So telling a complete stranger “Can you believe what he did?” wouldn’t likely ruin his chances, it would still just make you look overly needy and would actually really justify his actions, IMHO.
My SIL defriended me. Oh yes that made for some awkward family gatherings!
Agreed. Not only would you have not ruined his chances, you would have created a huge bonding moment between the two that might have led to him getting lucky.