In the Media – Can Facebook friendships be saved once the election is over? (NY Post)
Election Friendships
Experts agree that this may have been the most contentious and unusual election in history. Tempers have flared and friendships have frayed. People have voiced opinions they once held private. An article by Gabrielle Fonrouge in today’s New York Post notes:
Social media friend lists took a serious hit during this combative presidential election when users unfriended peers that had opposing political views. Now the question is, do you re-friend those people or stay disconnected?
The article focuses on whether people should refriend those whom they’ve unfriended. The short answer: It depends. It depends on the nature of the friendship and the fractious divide that occurred on Facebook.
The journalist interviewed The Friendship Doctor and social media guru David Karpf and writes:
The author and NYU professor said strong friendships should be able to weather political storms and if a friendship seems “frayed” because of what the other person is posting online, they “probably didn’t have a strong foundation.”
“If a friendship is very fragile and hanging on by a thread, this could really put the kibosh on the friendship, and why try to reconnect with a friendship that was vulnerable and weak to start with?” Dr. Levine said.
You can read the article in its entirety in the New York Post and various radio stations.
Have you had a virtual or real-life friendship affected by the election? What happened?
Category: KEEPING FRIENDS
Comments (3)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Sites That Link to this Post
- Friendship after Election Day : The Friendship Blog | November 16, 2016
Funny thing about this election to me is watching my usual respectful friends become arrogant condescending know it alls with no respect for anyone who doesn’t believe 100% exactly as they do. I’ve lost respect for some of them. Although I won’t ghost them, I’m not sure the loss can be reversed. I just saw a side of them I had not seen before (note to self).
I have a few very close friends who voted opposite me. I will not allow that to ruin our friendship, although I have a very hard time understanding how they could admire a candidate like that~! However, to me, it’s not worth losing a friend over.