It is Not Petty to Remove Someone From Your Social Media
It is about setting boundaries.
I shared my hurtful last encounters with my group of friends from high school in a recent article. If you have not read that article yet, you might need to check it out in order to understand this article.
After I hit the publish button on that article, I felt much lighter. I received supportive comments from the Medium community and that meant the world to me.
I was forced to do some major reflecting as I was writing. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that these people were never my real friends since they treated me poorly throughout all the years I knew them.
If I was not desperate to fit in and have friends in high school, then I would have seen it then. Real friends do not pick on you and put you down.
I decided that enough is enough
The person who I considered to be my best friend posted another picture on Instagram over the weekend. This time, she was seeing the exact same artist in concert who I asked her to see with me.
At this point, there is no way there was any misunderstanding. I was sure of that anyway since when she went to the first concert, she did not contact me to tell me she was no longer moving out of state (if she ever was) and she invited a different friend who does not like the singer instead of me.
This second concert was even more of a stab in the back because she went to see my favorite person without me. She knows I adore him. We have seen him twice together and one of those times, my family paid for her.
Since two Instagram posts are what started this, I chose to remove these former friends of mine from my account. I felt so much better afterward.
I did not expect any of them to notice. It is not like they talk to me anymore, or vice versa now. I figured they do not need to continue to have access to my life and I do not want to keep up with theirs after these hurtful events.
I was not trying to cause problems or hurt anyone’s feelings. This was about me doing what was best for me.
Within days, one of them noticed, which surprised me. Either they pay very close attention to their follower count and saw that they lost someone so they investigated until they figured it out, or they checked up on me.
The person sent a screenshot of it in a group chat the four of us had. I deleted the conversations from it ages ago, as it has been inactive for years now. They sent a text that said “bye” with yawning emojis and left the chat.
I briefly felt guilty and ashamed. Did I hurt their feelings? Was this a mistake? Did I overreact?
Then I considered how this is the first time I have heard from this person since they trashed my relationship and mocked me for graduating late from college. What makes them think I should keep ties with them on social media?
They never apologized for how they treated me, at that specific time or any other time. They never tried to reconnect with me or make it right.
Furthermore, their response proved to me that I made the correct decision. They created drama in an old group chat instead of being mature about it.
Their actions were petty, not mine. I set boundaries and I stand by that.
Key Message: It is okay to set boundaries, especially on social media, which is often toxic enough. Not everyone deserves to have access to your life.
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to my email list so you never miss any of my writing. Also, join Medium using my unique affiliate link to read more and support thousands of writers, including myself. Thank you for reading!
Love always, Brianna.