Dealing with social media in the aftermath of a breakup can be tricky. According to a recent study, keeping tabs on your ex on social media led to “greater current distress over the breakup, more negative feelings, more sexual desire, more longing for the ex, and lower personal growth.” But even if you unfriend them, there are still all the photos - the evidence of the happy days of your relationship - that you need to deal with. And clearing all those digital memories can be tough, but here’s why you should proceed with the post-breakup purge.
Staring at your photos might make you forget why you broke up in the first place - Scrolling through the highlight reel of your relationship only shows the best times, so it could make it harder to move on post-breakup.
It forces you to remember how much everyone else loved you as a couple, too - Of course your Eiffel Tower photo of you and your ex is your most-liked Insta to date. But it needs to go. The social reinforcement you get from the comments and likes from your friends as well as your ex’s can make the aftermath of the breakup even more stressful.
Future partners might feel like you’re still into your ex - What would your new Tinder date think if they saw pics of you as a couple still lingering on your profile? Think about the message you’re sending if you don’t take your old relationship pics down after the breakup.
It makes it so easy to creep on other aspects of your ex's life - If you did the right thing by unfollowing them on Insta, but they’re still tagged in your photos together, you’re still just a click away from their page. Willpower isn’t as strong after a couple glasses of wine and you could live to regret going there again.
If your ex is a remotely kind human, they'll understand why you need to do it - Even though you broke up, it’s still possible for your ex to show basic empathy and they’ll understand why you both need some distance here.
There’s no good reason not to - Taking photos of you and your ex down from social media doesn’t mean you have to delete them from your life altogether. Save the pics you’ll want to see again someday on a hard drive and not where you’ll have to see them everyday while you’re trying to move on and get over the breakup.
Source: Cosmopolitan