Wow. You know you are living in the 21st century when the process of dating and breaking is fully digitized via Facebook. The questions are no longer just, should I call him or text him?  Now it is, should I de-friend him or block him or hide his status…

In response to the various queries surrounding this. I propose the following digital breakup protocol for when the digital break goes down:

First, wait a cursory 3-4 days before changing your status.  That way you are leaving a few days to make repairs- should that happen- and it is a nice gesture to say that you are not outright throwing this person out of your life.  Then change your status to nothing or to single (be careful with the single- it may be better to wait a month or so… just sayin).

Second, I do not think that you should de-friend him. That is a pretty harsh action and will likely cause more pain than alleviate it.  Plus, you will likely want him as a friend later on when you are over the hurting bit.

What you do is “demote” him.  Put him on limited profile- and set your settings so that as such he cannot see your pictures or wall posts.  Basically he will still be your friend and have access to send you a message- but that is about it.  He won’t be able to peek into your world and guess what is going on.

You should also hide his status updates in your “home” screen so that when you sign in you are not faced with a big reminder every time- because you will be exercising the up most willpower and will not check his fb page from this day forward- for at least 6 months!  This is not a request, it is a pact that you are taking right here and right now with me.

Seriously, what you don’t know can’t stress you out unnecessarily and truthfully right now you don’t really want to know what he is up to.  No, you don’t.  Maybe in a few months (and by a few I mean the minimum of 6!) you will feel like looking him up and being friendly.  But for now- leave it and him alone. He is hurt and rejected (and so are you), but that is part of the cycle.  It is the end and also a beginning, so even though it feels bad and intense now- it will only get better from here.

Now take good care of yourself and celebrate who you are and all that you have in front of you!  My dad said to me, “Isn’t it exciting to know that you are out in the world and there is someone out there that is going to be wonderful and you are going to meet him!”  I like thinking of it in that way- excitement.  I hope you can feel that way too.