Face it. If you’re anything like most of us American slobs, one of your many overambitious New Year’s resolutions will be to lose weight.
You’re not going to lose those extra thirty pounds because the calendar changed from 2010 to 2011 and you took two extra walks around the cul-de-sac. You can though, take charge of all the crap you’re seeing online.
It only takes a few minutes to unfollow the people who have been driving you nuts. Drop them as Facebook friends, or block their posts from appearing in your newsfeed. If you’re really unsure, put them on a list somewhere you can check into, and check it only when absolutely necessary. You’ll learn quickly you’re not missing out on much besides that someone used Twitter from the toilet once again.
Save yourself the stress and disgust. Take the ten minutes and get rid of the crap and human pollution in your online life. This social media cleanse makes time for those real relationships you want to keep alive, and maybe if you cut enough people out you might be able to make some time to get to the gym.
Enjoy the freedom from the tyranny that is online “friendship.” Your friend from middle school you never kept in touch with anyways won’t be too upset.
I did this on a massive scale about six months ago.
I stopped following hundreds of people on Twitter. Some of them were just creating a lot of noise. Others were cool people, but their tweets just weren’t terribly interesting to me.
Most people totally understand, but a few folks got really upset about it. (I believe the words rude and mean were thrown out there). At the end of the day, it’s just Twitter. If getting unfollowed bothers someone that much…
Great start to the series, Jay!
It’s just Twitter? Here I was thinking it was life and death!
Great stuff Jay. You are hilarious. I agree, your blog is, “The best social media satire on the internet. Ever.” Now I’m cutting the fat on my RSS feeds so maybe I’ll read a post at some point in 2011 :-)!
Great topic, and probably something very few are willing to do.
I un-friended my first friend on Facebook a couple of weeks ago…and it felt great. I got tired of the noise and finally worked up the courage to do something about it. It did feel as if I was being rude but at the end of the day, it’s only Facebook.
I don’t believe in being Facebook friends with everyone you know in real life. It’s like saying I spend an equal amount of time with each of my friends…that’s just not the way it works. There are always some who you want to hear from more than others. Why should it be any different with social media?
Control the crap, love it! Also un-followed a lot of people on Twitter and it has only improved since I did that.
Great stuff Jay. You are hilarious. I agree, your blog is, “The best social media satire on the internet. Ever.” Now I’m cutting the fat on my RSS feeds so maybe I’ll read a post at some point in 2011 :-)!