9/26/2010

Friend 9/8/10

I've been unfriended. I am not a friend collector, so my number of Facebook contacts is small. Tidy; you can call it tidy. So I noticed when my number dropped recently. I couldn't figure out who it was for a while, so I guessed it was someone who wasn't really using Facebook anyway and closed their account. The fact that it was someone whose posts I didn't miss meant that it was obviously someone I wasn't close to, so I was not offended by the thought that my guess could be wrong and I was unfriended.
Offended still is not how I would characterize what I felt when I discovered who was missing from my friends list. Especially after reading this article on whether it's okay to unfriend acquaintances. What I felt was confused. The person is a friend from high school, who I hadn't spoken to since, and I'd only sent the friend request a few months ago. I would not have been upset if my request had been ignored in the first place. Since it was approved, I am left wondering if I offended my friend in some way, or if she, like myself, was simply keeping her friends list tidy. On the other hand, do I really want to know? I would certainly never put someone in the position of having to explain why I was removed from their friend list.
If I offended her somehow, I don't want to defend myself, or apologize: All of my Facebook friends are adults, and must know that on the Internet, offensive things lurk. If you are the type to unfriend someone whose viewpoint you find disagreeable, then I am relieved to no longer be on your friends list.
I don't think that was the case, though. Facebook is how I've reconnected with many people I hadn't had contact with for years, and I realize that I don't have a lot in common with many of them. We find people, we friend them, we learn what they're currently up to, and that's about it. What more is there to say? The thing I love best about Facebook is that I know where to find people if I need to. Just know that even if I don't comment on your status or message you directly often - or ever - doesn't mean I don't want you as a friend. I'm really just lazy.

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