30 days in November 17...

Friends today is:

Unfriend Day

Don’t worry, if you are reading this you are not on the list. Not that I have a list, and I’m guessing that a lot of my friends wouldn’t even notice if I did unfriend them because the have discreetly switched me off. I don’t blame them, I do have a tendency to say the wrong things, but I really can’t rely on pictures of kittens and unicorns to get me through the day.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel launched Unfriend Day in 2014 to put a check on the rising trend to collect more and more ‘friends’ on social media, especially Facebook. Some people have thousands of friends, a small city’s worth. I manage mine at below 250, but if they are actually tuned in, switched on or have dropped out I have no idea as I’ve already said. Nor do I want to, it would be too disillusioning and hurtful.

So today you are supposed to sit down at your computer and delete as many people as you want to from your friends list. We all know who they are. They are the one’s sending too many (and one is too many) Candy Crush requests, or inviting you to ‘like’ pages you wouldn’t like in a million years, or jamming your news feed with selfies, food photos, babies, pictures of them stood by the pool on holiday and their bloody dogs. I can take kittens and even unicorns, but I draw the line at a drooling dog.

Now you’ve read that you may decide to unfriend me, after all we all have the right to post what we want. But I’m hoping that you won’t. It’s interesting to see what people are up to, even if it is just a picture of them holding a glass of beer, just the beer come to that. I’m guilty of posting pictures of beer, and gin, and cocktails, and cider, and wine. And yes, I’m guilty of the odd post showing my dinner or my cat and lots and lots pictures of my backyard. Generally though I’m hoping that my friends find my posts interesting, or funny, or thought provoking and I try (I really do) not to be too negative or offensive.

There’s a view that social media is taking over our real-life relationships. I can see why people might think this, but in reality (at least my reality) there’s no chance of me seeing all of my friends in one place at the same time to chat about what’s happening in their world. In theory Facebook allows me to do just that, although it doesn’t work that way really. Sometimes I randomly drop in on a friend’s timeline, one I haven’t heard from for ages, and see how they are doing. I rarely comment, but it’s nice to know they are still out there in the ether.

After all, what are friends for?

I know, I’m a sentimental fool aren’t I.