We live in an amazing time. The ever evolving advancement of technology has made dating, and even marrying, something that can begin with a click of a mouse or a tap on a smartphone. People have multiple emails, as well as a plethora of social media that only begins with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. We have cell phones, work phones, and some of us still have land line home phones. All of these make building relationships a snap. They also make contact, nearly instantaneous. We have the ability to tell our stories via 140 characters or less, to lengthy blogs while telling our deepest, darkest secrets to the world—or your 1000 or so closest friends. Heck, I have “words with friends” friends! We have pictures of our blissful relationships we cultivated online, as well as pictures of friends, family, pets, vacations, and my personal favorite… drinks and snacks. Everything neatly tagged so that the world can follow your every move. Awesome.
But what happens when there is someone attached to you by all of the aforementioned and you want to well… let’s just say… excommunicate them from your life? It used to be—depending on how far back we go—you could change a single number. At worst, not answer, hang up and hope they don’t call back, rip up the hand written letter before opening it, throw an answering machine tape in the garbage, or simply MOVE. 😉
Things have changed. There is a domino effect of—let’s just say—breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and it has a domino missing. Now you are stuck. And boy oh boy, you have a lot of work to do in order to rid yourself of this unwanted appendage. As seemingly simple as it is to bring people into your life, it is astronomically more difficult to rid yourself of them.
The daunting and exhaustive process involved was brought up to me recently by a friend, and I have to say, I am not envious. Happy I don’t have too many social media ACTUAL friends, and pretty sure if I vanished from someone’s “timeline”, I would not necessarily be missed. We seem to be ‘shackled’ to people we know, barely know and wish we didn’t know in ways that Houdini would have trouble getting out of. I am curious how people handle this new era breakup. I am pretty much a lone wolf. There is something to be said for that in these ‘technology on steroid’ times.
Just a little something to think about as you share your fabulous life with the world… 🙂
Dealing With Fools 
I keep it simple. No smart phone. Limited online social media sites, and the blessed DELETE button! done. 🙂