Digital Smarts - Advice on “Unfriending”

What happens when you or one of your children discovers you have been “unfriended” or “defriended” by someone on Facebook or another social networking site? How should you handle it? It is hard to know what to do. Columnist Steven Petrow offers his opinion in an article entitled Digital Life: How to handle a 'defriending'. He suggests that if you don’t know why this has occurred, the burden is on the other person to tell you. In the meantime, just say “hello” when you meet and avoid further chitchat. He admits, though, that it hurts. He also reminds those who are debating “defriending” someone to consider doing so for only serious violations (inappropriate photos, hateful politics) and that instead you could just “unfollow” him or her. “Unfollowing” someone simply means you won't see this person's posts in your newsfeed, and he or she won't be any the wiser. Otherwise, don't just “defriend,” but “defriend” and block -- that way, you'll never run across each other in Facebook again. As for real life, that may be another matter.