Facebook is evil…

…at least when it comes to break-ups. I’ve written on this topic before but I never cease to be amazed at how intricately linked all of our lives are because of FB. Last week a friend broke up with her boyfriend after a year-long relationship. Like many couples, they started as friends (actually, they’re practically life-long friends). I’ve always envied people like this - they already know each other’s good side, bad side, peccadillos and peeves. They’ve been through thick and thin together and have a bond that takes other couples years to build.

However, I now pity them thanks to FB. When it comes to fractured couples who were besties, it seems that the sage advice to de-friend your ex is not sufficient for staving off the constant reminders that your former has moved on. Although my friend de-friended her ex, she continues to be bombarded by updates by, and about him, on her friends’ FB pages because they run with the same crowd (as my parents would say). Vegas vacations, new hook-ups, makeovers, and on and on with few ways to stop the assault. Should she de-friend all shared FB friends? Stop checking FB (yeah right!)? Ask him not to post his escapades on FB anymore (again, yeah right!). 

I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know social networks like FB, while incredibly useful for staying in touch with your pals, wreak havoc when relationships go south. Before FB, ex’s would simply divvy up their friends and part ways, rarely ever hearing about one another. Not so in the digital world.