Unfriending toxic family members
SOCIAL GRACES
Q: Should you unfriend toxic family members from Facebook?
A: Absolutely. It’s called self-care. Social media needs to be a place where people can feel empowered and find information that will benefit them, not make them feel more irritated.
I prescribe deleting assignments to my clients when they start feeling overwhelmed by social media. Many of them want to completely delete the app from their phones because they’ve had it. Rather than extreme behaviors, I use positive psychology with my clients to sort through what might be a good reason to stay on Facebook, and deleting friends or family members who might not be serving the purpose of social media activity.
When I suggest this, sometimes their response is: “What if someone finds out and confronts me?” I suggest taking an honest approach and saying you just needed to take a break.
— Kelley Kitley, psychotherapist and owner of Serendipitous Psychotherapy
A: If you are tired of Aunt Sally’s endless political posts or another family member’s toxic remarks, you shouldn’t be forced to endure their daily negativity. One option you may want to consider before cutting the cord and unfriending them is muting people, pages or groups by snoozing their posts for 30 days. If that’s not effective enough, Facebook users can also unfollow family members, hiding their posts entirely without unfriending, saving you from seeing toxic content, messages or people. The muted family member won’t be notified, and the good news is that muting and unfollowing can be reversed at any point.
If you decide you don’t want any online association with that person and decide to unfriend altogether, the good news is that it’s hard to see who unfollowed whom on Facebook.
— Myka Meier, etiquette expert and founder of Beaumont Etiquette