Rebuilding Rob

Earlier this morning, I unfollowed Jessica on Instagram. I saw a picture of her with some other dude, not that we’re even dating, let alone talking. But the fact of the matter is, we have not spoken for several months, and when I have tried to reach out to her, I’ve gotten really dry answers from her. I’ve been wanting for several weeks now to just go ahead and unfriend her on social media, but I haven’t pulled the trigger. I think Instagram was the first step in that today.

And then, just now, I saw the Chanteuse posting about being at the Tiger game with some other dude. she’s another one. I’ve carried a torch for her for a long time. But we’ve never taught much, hell, we never even went out! But I think I’ve always been attracted to her and it’s obvious she’s not interested in me.

Why do we do this? Why do we keep people as friends on social media when we no longer have any contact with them in the real world? And I’m not talking about people who are essentially digital penpals. I get the reason for that. But it’s like you break up with someone and you remain friends on social media, even though you don’t want to see the person; don’t want to talk to the person; you don’t want to know what they’re doing. And yet we hang onto them like baseball cards.

I found this great article on NBC news about people “orbiting” you on social media. The article is almost 6 years old, but it’s just as timely now as it was then. It talks about how unhealthy of a practice “orbiting” another person is. After all, as the article, attests, social media is our own form of reality television. The article suggests unfollowing, or even blocking some people to keep through getting caught up in others orbit. 

this post on Quora talks about the phenomenon of “clearing the neighborhood”. It is an astronomical term for clearing the path of orbit for a planet.

I think I’ve had too many other planetary bodies in my orbit recently. What’s worse, I think I’ve been trying to put myself into the orbit of other planetary bodies as of late. That ends today.

It’s time I stop being a moon, or even a dwarf planet; and retake my place as a true, celestial body.

I’m not talking about astronomy.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
• Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
• Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
• The Muscle of Empathy

The article “clearing the neighborhood” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.