Getting Dumped In The Digital Age: Part I

Getting dumped, in the simple yet poignant words of CNN.com’s netiquette columnists Brenna Ehrlich and Andrea Bartz, “sucks.” Ancient axioms like “Time heals all wounds” and “There are plenty of fish in the sea” might provide some comfort to a broken heart but, as Ehrlich and Bartz point out in their article “How to handle a break-up online,” “breaking up is hard in the digital age – especially when the world is spending around 22 percent of its time on social networks.”

So what do you do when your ex is continuously posting updates about his or her latest fling on Twitter? Can a heart heal when you’re confronted with photos of your ex’s new boyfriend or girlfriend whenever you log onto Facebook? How do you move on when you’re tempted to Google your ex’s name every time you open your web browser?

Ehrlich and Bartz, news editors for Mashable.com and Psychology Today, respectively, offer the following advice for getting dumped with dignity in the digital age:

For Twitter Users:

If your ex is a chronic oversharer, the easiest way to avoid Twitter-induced heartache is, of course, to unfollow him or her and remove any and all torturous Tweets completely. But if deleting your ex forever seems like a move so cruel he or she doesn’t even deserve it for dumping you, check out Twitter clients like Brizzly which will eliminate the offending messages.

Ehrlich and Bartz also warn readers to take the Twitter high road at all times. Resist the temptation to Tweet about your hurt feelings or post messages about how badly you’d like revenge. Not only is it immature, there’s a very good chance that your ex’s friends or relatives are still reading your Tweets and are reporting back about that week you spent on the couch trying all 31 flavors of Baskin Robbins ice cream.

For Foursquare users:

The awkward run-in is one of the most painful parts of the breaking up process, so be aware of your locational privacy when using sites like Foursquare. Your ex definitely doesn’t still need to know where you are every second of every day. Once again, the easiest option is deleting him or her entirely, but if that route doesn’t sound appealing, Ehrlich and Bartz recommend using a web app like Avoidr, which “allows you to choose which Foursquare friends you want to forsake, and then flags their check-ins so you can sidestep an encounter.” If you and your ex frequent the same bars, restaurants, and coffee shops, this is a highly useful tool. The best course of action, however, is using your break up as motivation to ditch the pajamas and ice cream, and find new haunts and new friends all your own.

Join me next time for more advice on getting dumped from Brenna Ehrlich and Andrea Bartz. Up next: how to handle a break up on search engines and the king of social networking sites, Facebook.

Check out the original article here.