Have you felt a sense of relief after deleting an ex?
Having that all important boyfriend cleanse now includes Facebook when couples split, with 8 out of 10 British women pressing ‘delete’ on their exes according to mobileslots.com.
84% said that this would be one of their first moves following a break up- 48% said they might reconsider adding them back but only after a year at least had passed so old wounds could heal.
One woman said: “I don’t think I could stay Facebook friends with one of my exes, it would be really awkward.
“I tend to delete them as soon as the relationship is over; it makes the break clean then. Anyone who says that they remain friends with their exes is simply lying.”
One woman who optimistically thought it would work said: “I used to stay friends with one of my exes on Facebook but then it just got weird when he started liking pictures of me and commenting on my updates.
“He was blatantly Facebook stalking me so he had to go. I left it too long after we broke up to do it which made it embarrassing.
“Now I make a point of doing it as soon as I change my status from ‘in a relationship’ to ‘single’.”
For the ones who split in anger- 11% went as far as to delete their exes friends too- in a bid to eliminate any association with them, but sometimes this can make it ten times worse; “If it’s the end of a quick fling then it is easy just to delete the guy. The trouble starts when you’ve been in a relationship for a while and you’ve made friends with his friends and family.
“When I broke up with my last serious boyfriend I had to delete both his best mates and his mum, that was the bit I found the hardest.”
After that comes the picture purge, with 21% deleting any pictures that had their ex for the constant digital reminder can cause too many barriers to moving on.
2% even decided that Facebook was the perfect tool for dumping their partners, so one would assume that after the deed was done- they deleted them to avoid any backlash from an arguably heartless act.
A spokesperson for MobileSlots.com commented: “Before social media, ending a relationship was fairly straight forward; you just wouldn’t see each other again.
“Facebook now adds a whole new layer of potential awkwardness as it means an ex can still keep track of you after the relationship is over.
“It is interesting to see how many people go out of their way to distance themselves from their ex on Facebook. In these situations I think a clean break is the healthiest and best thing to do.”
Speaking for myself- when I broke up with my ex, I was not on Facebook- and thinking back I am glad that I didn’t have it at that point in my life. Break ups are complicated enough without adding everything that comes with still virtually seeing the person you most likely want to avoid for the rest of your days.