I unfollowed a friend on a social media app and he's treating it like a real-life betrayal.
By @gabeok · Internet
I'm a pretty private person online and don't like having a huge follower count from people I don't talk to regularly. I did a cleanup of my accounts, and a friend I haven't seen in a couple of years is now demanding an explanation for why I removed him.
The full story
A few days ago, I decided to do a digital declutter. I went through my Instagram and other social media and removed a bunch of people I haven't talked to in a while. It wasn't personal, just a general cleanup to make my feed more focused on people I'm actively in touch with. One of the people I unfollowed was a guy I was friends with in college. We haven't seen each other or had a real conversation in at least two years. We still have mutual friends, so I figured it was no big deal. Apparently, it was. they texted me yesterday asking point-blank why I unfollowed him. I was taken aback and just said I was cleaning up my follow list. He didn't accept that and said it felt "super shady" and like I was trying to hide something from him. He's now been texting our mutual friends asking if they know what's going on with me. It feels like a massive overreaction to something that happens entirely online and has no bearing on our real-life acquaintance status. I don't feel like I owe him a detailed explanation, but he's creating drama over it.
How people voted
- Bad Move — 13% (2 votes)
- Needs Context — 33% (5 votes)
- Reasonable — 53% (8 votes)
Readers say “Reasonable” (53%) — 15 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@fayey — Honestly, his reaction is so weird it makes the unfollow 100% justified. I'd block his number.
@owenlol — Are you sure there isn't something else going on that made him feel this way?
@ryan — Can't you just follow him back to make the drama stop?
@brynnkindof — He's acting like a child. You don't owe anyone an explanation for who you follow online.
@niayy — If someone doesn't want to talk to you in real life, you definitely shouldn't be following them on the internet.
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