What Friends to Cut on National UnFriend Day?
A Teens Guide for Friends to Cut on National UnFriend Day
Kimmel makes the point that friends are supposed to be sacred relationships, and that many of our so-called FaceBook friends are not really our friends. He is right of course. Your "real" friends would never post nasty comments on your FaceBook page, upload embarrassing pictures or video clips of you, or announce to the world who your secret crush is. What friends should you cut on National UnFriends Day? As a parent of teens who are avid FaceBook users, here are my picks of "friend fat" that should make the cut.
1. Narcissists. Narcissists are people who are in love with themselves and post every excruciatingly boring detail of their lives. These people honestly think you are interested in their brand of shampoo or how yummy the Mocha Latte was at Starbucks this morning. Narcissists are also known for posting multiple pouty faced self portraits of themselves. These friends definitely can go away.
2. Bullies. Bullies are no longer are limited to monster sized thugs that prowl the school yard. Bullies can also be snotty teen girls who post nasty comments on your Facebook wall about your dating life (or lack of it), your appearance, your taste in clothes, or your acne flareup. If anyone has every dissed you on FaceBook, unFriend them now.
3. Braggers and Out-doers. Nothing is more boring than braggarts whose sole purpose in life is to outdo every one else. This people contribute nothing to a friendship and if anything, make you feel bad because you can't possibly keep up. Who cares if their Dad is richer than yours, handsomer, has a bigger house or more expensive cars than anyone else at school? People who make themselves feel important at your expense are not friends. See that unFriend button? Click it now.
4. People you don't know. Tens of thousands of teens "friend" people they don't know, and why? You wouldn't let a stalker eavesdrop on your cellphone, watch you through a web cam, or follow you around downtown, would you? By friending some one you don't know (or one of your real friends doesn't know personally), you are opening up your private life to the world, including criminals who seek out unsuspecting teens on Facebook. These "friends" should be UnFriended as quickly as possible.
Take it from a mom, Jimmy Kimmel is really on to something here because certain "friends" just are not worth having as friends. A National UnFriend Day is a great way to cut the friend fat in your life and make social networking fun again.
sources:
http://abc.go.com/shows/jimmy-kimmel-live/national-unfriend-day
Published by C. Jeanne Heida - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
Jeanne is a small business owner with 25 years experience in the real estate industry. A consistent Y!CN Top 100 writer, her articles can be found at Y!Finance, Shine, Your Wisdom, DEX, and the Scripps Net... View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentHa, and to think there used to be an old saying, "You can never have too many friends..." Enter: Social Networking and now, we're saying "Get rid of them!" LOL cheers ;)
This is really solid advice, super job!
I loved this! I keep my friends list on FB very small....I truly only want to use it to keep in touch with people who are my friends.....those people with thousands of people on their lists just boggles my mind! ;)
Great points! However, with our kids being taught they shouldn't be "judgmental" -- how do they know who are their real friends? They're not being taught to cultivate the assessment skill of discernment between good and bad.
I enjoyed this. :) I don't unfriend people much on Facebook but I sure love that hide button!
This is some really good advice. I hope they follow it. I did just this very thing a few months back and spend much less time on FB. I have better things to do with my time than update my status and check on what everyone else is doing every five minutes.