The inclusion of new technologies and the Internet in people’s daily lives has caused important changes in many areas: the way of shopping, the way of studying, the way of entertaining, etc.
Furthermore, due to the Internet, and specifically social networks, there has been a change in the way we relate to others, and it has allowed us to meet many new people, people from all corners of the world.
But social networks Not only does it allow us to make new friends, but it also allows us to break them Research from the University of Colorado Denver (USA) has provided information on why some people delete their Facebook friends.
As concluded in the study, “They usually do it because they consider that the opinions expressed by the other person about religion or politics are very radical.”. This occurs more frequently with high school classmates
Your political ideology could be the main cause of ‘exclusion’ on Facebook
Facebook statuses and opinions are an opportunity to show ourselves to the world and are an opportunity to express what we feel and what we think. Since Facebook burst into the lives of all of us, those of us who connect to this social network daily see the status of our contacts constantly updated.
In this sense, We can repeatedly see their opinions on politics, and we see their most deeply held beliefs and values reflected We can also see his opinions in the different groups or posts, coming to appreciate his radicalism behind his words. It seems, then, that political ideology is a fundamental cause why we erase some friends. This can tire and irritate us, causing us to decide to eliminate the contact from our friends.
Causes of us being removed from Facebook
The study was published in February 2014, and was carried out by sociologist Christopher Sibona for the University of Colorado in Denver. It was carried out in two phases: the first part of the study examined the context and profile of the eliminated individuals; and the second phase focused on the emotional responses of people who had been eliminated
The data were analyzed after carrying out a survey in which 1,077 subjects participated via Twitter.
First phase of the study
Which friends are most likely to go through the ‘guillotine’?
The results of the first study indicated that the individuals who had been eliminated most frequently were (in order from highest to lowest):
Regarding friends who work at the same company, “we discovered that people eliminate coworkers for real-world actions rather than for comments on social networks,” Sibona explained. According to him, one of the reasons why high school friends are the most deleted on social networks is because their political and religious beliefs may not have been as strong in previous ages. At this stage of life, beliefs become stronger, making it more likely to offend friends.
What are the actions on Facebook that can irritate your friends?
Regarding the content of comments or statuses, the study concluded that the following reasons were the most common for removing a friend from Facebook:
Second phase of the study
How do we feel when someone erases us?
Regarding the second phase of the study, that is, the emotional reactions of individuals who are eliminated from Facebook, Sibona found a variety of emotions associated with this fact. The most common are the following:
It must be clarified that depending on the degree of friendship between the two actors (the one who eliminates and the one eliminated), The closer the friendship, the more sad you feel about having been eliminated Therefore, “being sad” can be used as a predictor of relationship closeness. Lastly, the study also concluded that deleting someone from Facebook occurs more frequently among friends than among acquaintances.
You may be interested in: “Depersonalization and (in)communication in social networks”
