Un-Friended

Yes everyone. I have been unfriended. My friendship has been denied. I have been handed my boarding pass and booted out the door. I stand, unable to respond, unable to speak, unable to defend myself. I am UN-FRIENDED. And as I cannot defend myself to the offended party, I will rant on my public blog instead.

Ah, the un-friend. Is there any greater social slap on the hand than the dreaded UN-FRIEND? You know, it's funny how, it really takes very little for most people to add someone as a friend on Facebook.

"I knew her in 4th grade!"
"We had a class together in 1983!"
"He was my roommate's cousins' brother's dog!"
"She's my husband's cousin's wife whom he doesn't really know and I've never actually met and don't know either of them!"

But although very little thought may go into ADDING a friend, a great DEAL of thought goes into deleting one. It's the ultimate cut-off. All of sudden--THEY ARE GONE. And you cannot add them again. (well, sometimes you can, unless they get REALLY nasty and block you) And you can't defend yourself. You can't say you're sorry or explain. It's just over. It's like, way ruder than real life. Cause, of course, you aren't good enough friends where you actually call each other and can use the phone. So just like that, you have lost a previously unnoticed and unvalued friend. And there's nothing you can do about it. Why is this so annoying?

Now--there is always the weeding out process. That's when you go through your list and get rid of people that you never talk to and don't care about. You probably don't even notice if you are weeded out. Or maybe one day you get a friend request from someone and you are like, "Aren't we already friends?"

No, this is the personal "You have offended me/I don't like you/You suck" kind of unfriend that is, surprisingly, painful. Even though you may not know this person well, may never have talked to them in person or at least not for a long time, and never would have missed them if you had never become friends on Facebook in the first place, you are still a little hurt that they thought ill of you enough to personally un-friend you. I have un-friended for the same reasons--and it's actually kind of an emotional thing. You are literally writing someone off forever. And you can't undo it. And it's SO EASY to do.

Sadly, this is not the first time it's happened to me. I tend to get in trouble on Facebook--the teacher in me just goes crazy when people are stupid about some of their status updates. Seriously, if I had had access to Facebook in high school, I shudder to think of the drama that would have ensued. If I, at the age of 32, can find drama on Facebook now, what would it have been like at 15? No, I get in trouble over foul language. If I see it on a status update I will usually call them on it. Its a pet peeve of mine. It kinda bugs me that people don't seem to know or care that EVERYONE can see their status. I mean, shouldn't you censor yourself a LITTLE bit?

Anyway, I actually feel really bad about it. But, like I said, there is nothing I can do but ponder the social effects of friending and un-friending virtual strangers, and wonder how someone to completely unconnected to me, who knows little about my life and means very little to me personally, could make me feel so bad.