Here’s Why You Should Probably Unfriend Your Exes On Facebook
Turns out that following them is bad for your mental health.
Everyone is guilty of scrolling through their exes’ Facebook or Instagram feeds, just to check in and see how they’re doing, where they just went on vacation, or you know, to see if they have a new boyfriend you can silently resent.
If seeing any indication that your ex is now living her best life makes you bitter inside, you might realize that staying Facebook friends maybe isn’t the best idea in the world. And you’d be right.
According to a new study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, staying connected with an ex on social media and being able to see everything they’re doing makes the breakup harder to get over, and definitely keeps you from moving on.
If that didn’t inspire you to unfollow or even unfriend your ex, you should know also that the study revealed that remaining Facebook friends with a former flame may increase your feelings of sexual desire for them, and spark a longing for the failed relationship, which is rarely a good thing.
“Overall, these findings suggest that exposure to an ex-partner through Facebook may obstruct the process of healing and moving on from a past relationship,” author of the study, psychologist Tara Marshall wrote. “All indicators would suggest that it’s not healthy.”
Essentially, refusing to click “unfriend” and sever all social media ties keeps you from moving on, makes you sad, upset, and disconcerted, and it makes you hot for your ex all over again.
This all comes together in a calamitous summation of: “God, Linda. I don’t care that you slept with my roommate and you’re dating him now – flipping through your ‘Summer 2K16!!’ album made me realize just how smokin’ hot you are, and I want you back even though you’re terrible.”
With that said, should you unfriend your ex? Well, if you’re definitely, positively, 100% over them and literally cannot be bothered to devote three seconds of your life to unfriend them, nah. Keep them on your friends list so they can see how happy you are without them. You don’t give a single shit, good for you!
On the other hand, if you’re still Facebook friends with your ex because you still have feelings and are desperately clinging onto that last, minuscule social media connection you have together, do yourself a favor and unfriend them immediately. Right. Now. Click that “unfriend” button.
“The more you can minimize exposure, the more space you have to move on,” Marshall said, giving us all the green light to unfriend our exes, and burn some bridges that deserve to be burned.