This isn't the first time that I've encountered a viewpoint such as this. I've heard numerous cases from both friends and family about someone becoming upset over being deleted online. Most recently, I had a case where one friend told me that I am no longer their real friend because I'm never on Facebook.
At first I thought that this entire concept was a bit silly. For one, the reason that I would delete someone on Facebook is a good reason. I don't want to see any of their content. If I delete someone online it does not mean that if I ever see them down the street that I won't stop by to say hello or jump-start a conversation.
My friend got me thinking though, was it really a bad idea to delete someone? Did I really just end a friendship when I hit that “Delete” button?
In a way, this notion seems to hold plenty of truth. When someone creates an online profile they are creating what I believe to be an “Identity of the Self.” Their own existential being becomes manifested into this online persona and in many cases this persona becomes a “true” representation of themselves. In other words, it is possible that many users online see their “true” self's on an online profile.
So if a person's true being exists in their online profile it is only natural that they will become upset once they have realized that they have been removed from some else's Friends list.
It very well seems that the idea of a real friendship is no longer limited to physical interaction either. An online friendship can be just as real as one offline, or so it appears.
At the moment, this whole idea troubles me. If I delete someone from Facebook or my Google+, I don't want them to think that I no longer want to be their “real” friend, but rather it means that I don't enjoy the content that they produce.
But it is becoming more and more apparent that clicking this “Delete” button might actually do more harm than good.
Honestly though, even though I accept this idea as a possibility I will continue to delete people that produce content that doesn't interest me. The way I see it, the profile is solely mine and if I choose not to see content from certain individuals, others should respect my decision to do so and there should be no reason why anyone should be upset.
Yet even though my mind is made up, I can't shake the feeling of “what if?” whenever I click that Delete button.
