THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL

by **Paul** Fri 17 Nov 2023, 6:41 am

National Unfriend Day
On this day of self-care, unfriend everyone who does not add joy to your life.

Thank you Jimmy Kimmel, you gentleman and scholar, for creating National Unfriend Day on November 17. Please join us on this day of self-care to celebrate by simplifying our connections online and unfriending any and everyone who does not add joy to your online, social networking experience.

HISTORY OF NATIONAL UNFRIEND DAY

On November 17, 2010, Jimmy Kimmel went on his nightly talk show to announce that it was National Unfriend Day. In this digital age, we’ve reached a threshold of social connections.
Does your friend from elementary school who you haven’t spoken to in twenty years really need to be your Facebook friend? Do you really want to see the Instagram posts of that guy you met in line for the bathroom at that party in college? How about even that center for your favorite basketball team that you follow on Twitter who retired three years ago – is it important to see how they’re handling being retired at 35?
These questions and more have been building slowly over the past twenty or so years since social media was created and we’ve been collecting friends online as if they were the latest trend in fashion. But after years of adding social networks and hoarding friends and follows, in 2010 we reached a cultural terminal velocity in how many connections we can sustain. Now it’s time to cleanse.

NATIONAL UNFRIEND DAY ACTIVITIES

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Find what matters

Here is an exercise for you: review your friends one by one and figure out who really matters to you. Do you really need to stay in touch with your lab partner from 10th grade? It may be hard to cut them loose but you will feel better overtime. Remember what they say, quality over quantity.

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Connect with your friends in real life

Unplug from your virtual world and invite your friends over for a cup of coffee or to watch a movie. Focus on the people that you make you happy in person, rather than those that only "like" your posts online. These are your true friends and these are the relationships that will last longer overtime.

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Move them to LinkedIn

Most of us have blurred the lined between personal and business connections by befriending people on Instagram and Facebook. If you are not comfortable with completely deleting your business connections, then simply reestablish your friendship through a professional platform like, Linkedin.

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WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL UNFRIEND DAY

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Fresh Start

How many friends do you currently have? Do you keep in touch with all of them? Do you really need to stay in contact with them? It is common for friend lists to grow out of control –– trust us, we all do it. So If the answer to the last question is no, then take a few moments to start from scratch by deleting anyone that you haven't talked to in the last year.

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No more Drama

Do you have friends that over share? Or possibly air out their dirty laundry online? Think to yourself, do I really need to stay updated with this person's daily affairs? Life will naturally hand you a variety of your own problems, so don't let anyone else's issues consume you. Hit delete and free yourself!

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Less anxiety

Emails, texts, news alerts, Facebook notifications, Twitter mentions, Instagram likes. It's hard not to look at your phone without seeing a million little red numbers begging for your attention and competing with the actual world right in front of you. By unfriending on your platforms, you can reduce the amount of time you need to spend checking apps and more time spent being in the moment and clearing your own head with what (and who) you actually need to focus on.

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