This document discusses how social media, particularly Facebook, has made breaking up and getting over a breakup more difficult. It notes that social media provides constant reminders of exes through photos and updates. It also argues that on social media, it is difficult to truly cut ties with an ex by unfriending or blocking them. Several studies cited found that remaining Facebook friends with an ex can delay emotional recovery from a breakup and cause greater distress. The document concludes by discussing how dismantling the online presence and history with an ex that social media has archived can be challenging.

1. Pulling the Plug
How Social Media made Breakups
Harder
By: Ian Ip
Image taken from flickr user sa.y589

2. “There’s less structure for people
today…
…as relationships develop”
Image taken from flickr user Mário Tomé
Quotation Source: [1]

3. …with reminders on a
daily, even hourly basis.”
“Facebook and Twitter make it
incredibly difficult to move on
because you're bombarded…
Image taken by Ian Ip
Quotation Source: [1]

4. “Facebook has created a whole
new slew of obstacles…
…previously didn’t exist for people in
the dreadful world of dating.”
Image taken from flickr user Michael
Mitchener

5. “Social networking made
getting your ex the hell out of
your life a lot harder.”
Image taken from flickr user Brian D Perskin
Quotation Source: [5]

6. “She dumped you and ran.
You're miserable—and you
never want to see your ex
again…
…Except there she is, in
that new profile picture
splashed all over your
news feed.” Image taken from flickr user Angela Haupt
Quotation Source: [2]

7. “It’s also made it more difficult to
end relationships and move on”
Image taken from flickr user ThePatronSaint
Quotation Source: [4]

8. “Before Facebook…
…ending a relationship actually
meant the end of
communication, for the most part.”
Image taken from flickr user Ĝђ Pho
Quotation Source: [6]

9. …doesn’t really do much when
your online social lives are so
entangled.”
Image taken from flickr user rao.anirudh
“Defriending…
Quotation Source: [7]

10. …and led to greater distress
over the breakup”
“Remaining Facebook friends
with an ex delayed emotional
recovery…
Image taken from flickr user Manarianz5
Quotation Source: [3]

11. “When a breakup is still raw and
painful, being exposed to your ex
through Facebook is like pouring salt
on a wound.”
Image taken from flickr user
bridges&balloons
Quotation Source: [2]

12. “When the cause of the breakup is
ambiguous or uncertain, and there's
not a lot of trust…
Image taken from flickr user satosphere
…we might turn to Facebook to
figure out how and why it
happened.” Quotation Source: [4]

13. “Facebook provides the
coincidentally perfect and
automatic window into the life
of your evil ex”
Image taken from flickr user CubaGallery
Quotation Source: [1]

14. “You can’t just cut a
picture in half;
Image taken from flickr user NikkiNikNak.
…you have to actually dismantle
an online universe.”
Quotation Source: [7]

15. “So you scroll through your
contacts, intending to delete her
phone number…
Image taken from flickr user wolfgangfoto
…And then there are the
emails, G-chats, photos on
Instagram, and the cute things
you wrote to one another on
Facebook, Twitter.”
Quotation Source: [6]

16. “We get to edit our lives online.
Leave out the bad stuff. Include only
what's good, funny, and enviable”
Image taken from flickr user Matic Erzen -
TeaM Photography
Quotation Source: [6]

17. “The very way Facebook is designed
makes it harder for you to cut contact
with your ex.”
Image taken from flickr user S@ilor
Quotation Source: [3]

18. “Some people want to forget but are
extremely resistant to actual deletion,
Image taken from flickr user assbach
while others regret deleting th
digital possessions.”
Quotation Source: [5]

19. “Lack of disposal tools meant…
Image taken from flickr user Myla Rocknrolla
…Keepers took
longer to heal,
disposers often regretted
their impulsiveness."
Quotation Source: [3]

20. “Once you finally manage to se
offline ties,
Image taken from flickr user Eric Spiegel
there’s really no way to avoid
virtual run-ins with your ex”
Quotation Source: [1]

21. “Sometimes people aren't even
looking for information,
but then it pops up and that
can really throw you off”
Image taken from flickr user Brian D Perskin
Quotation Source: [1]

22. All images used are licensed under the Creative
Commons Non-Commercial Share – Alike 3.0 agreement
and sourced from flickr
Credits

23. http://www.buzzfeed.com/atmccann/how-facebook-ruined-dating-and-breaking-up-
too [1]
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/how-to-get-over-a-
breakup [2]
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/10/22/facebook-post-breakup-bad-
for-your-heart [3]
http://www.hindustantimes.com/technology/SocialMedia-Updates/Social-media-
making-forgetting-romantic-breakups-difficult-Study/SP-Article1-1058082.aspx [4]
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/breakups-in-the-time-of-facebook/ [5]
http://thestir.cafemom.com/technology/155569/facebook_makes_breakups_harder_s
o [6]
http://www.uproxx.com/technology/2013/05/facebook-is-making-your-breakup-more-
painful/ [7]
http://www.hngn.com/articles/2863/20130511/social-media-makes-forgetting-
unfortunate-breakups-hard.htm [8]
Sources