Mute, Block, Delete: Navigating National UnFriend Day
National UnFriend Day (NUD) is an unofficial holiday designed to promote unfriending other Facebook users that are not true friends. Social media now provides access to just about anyone, anywhere on the globe. However, this easy global access exposes personal information to theft or misuse and unnecessary cluttering by other’s junk posts. In this digital age, it is imperative that identities remain protected and that time spent on social media be reduced and replaced by face-to-face human interaction.
National UnFriend Day was originally conceived and proposed by TV personality Jimmy Kimmel on November 17, 2010, in an effort to remind society of the true meaning of friendship. Kimmel believes that there are many Facebook offenses that can lead to unfriending someone, some of which include, posting too much, spell-checking too little, repetitively posting the same kind of material, not googling before asking questions, being on Facebook all the time and sending in-app Facebook requests for games. In addition to unfriending irritating offenders, it is advisable to unfriend those whom you no longer have steady contact with and any unknown users that may have access to your information and posts.
National UnFriend Day Facts & Quotes
According to a report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping navigate the world of media and technology, teenagers spend about 9 hours a day consuming media, 1.5 hours of which is spent on social media.
As of January 2019, compared to other social networks, Facebook is the leading social network with approximately 1.6 billion active monthly users. This is in comparison to WhatsApp (1 billion active monthly users), Instagram (400 million active monthly users) and Twitter (320 million active monthly users).
The average Facebook user has 338 friends. 27% of young Facebook users have more than 500 friends, compared an average of 100 friends for 72% of Facebook users who are older than 65 years of age.
36% of Facebook users strongly dislike it when someone shares too much information or photos about themselves, as well as when they post photos of others without asking for permission.
National UnFriend Day Top Events and Things to Do
Go through your privacy settings on Facebook. Keep in mind that some of the people that you have previously friended may not be friends at all. Your privacy settings can control who is able to see your content and whose content will show up on your news feed.
Decide who you are going to unfriend on Facebook. Facebook also offers the possibility of making friends into acquaintances. Your acquaintance list can then be separated from your friend list, allowing you to publish and read ‘friend-only’ content.
Review your posting habits. Have you been posting too much content or have you been posting photos of your friends, without receiving permission? Check to see whether you have also violated any Facebook UnFriend Day Offenses as defined by Jimmy Kimmel.
Watch movies about friendship. Here are some to consider:
1) Stand by Me (1986)
2) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
3) Good Will Hunting (1997)
4) The Intouchables (2011)
5) The Social Network (2010)
6) The Bucket List (2007)
7) As Good as it Gets (1997)