Fake friends are people who give all the impressions of being good friends. They will constantly rob you of your positive energy and emotions and do very little to help you restore your balance. Fake friends are hard to spot because they easily pass themselves off as good friends and in some cases they may actually think they are being a good friend but our parents notice them way before we do. Social psychology teaches us that we are more likely to like those whom we spend more time with, not having to be in the same place as them because social media has made it easier to do so. We don’t ask ourselves why we’re spending so much time with these people and eventually we confuse the social interaction with friendship.
Fake friends are confused for good friends because of the regular basis interaction. However, if we were to assess the value these interactions add to our life, we’d see that these people do not have a positive impact. We may not need to cut off contact but to reprioritise the friendship and give less energy. But whom we need to consider removing completely are the ones that belittle you and the ones that are emotionally draining. If a person needs to make you feel small to feel big, they are not worthy of your friendship and if you’re not good enough for the good times to them then they should not burden you with the bad times.
Status updates have become platforms for passing judgments, starting unnecessary arguments and ending friendships. But also on the other hand, they expose true friends and the fake ones. Someone who you trust can be the first to make a joke out of you. For instance, you share a secret with someone now hoping they’ll give you advice and keep them to themselves then hours later on Facebook you have become a “trend” because your private life is all people are talking about. Although your name is not mentioned, you know that it’s referring to you; I mean it can’t really be a coincidence. And others are also bound to know because who knows who this so-called friend is talking to privately and what else they’re saying. But retaliation is never the answer!
“The older you get, the more you realize the value of privacy; of cultivating your circle and only letting certain people in. You can be open, honest and real while still understanding not everyone deserves a seat at the table of your life.”
The simplest status update can make a person hate their life. How? Because society has made us care so much about “self-image”. No one wants to look bad, especially in the eyes of an enemy. The enemy has become who we live for, the people we feel we need to impress, the one’s that make us fear not having materialistic things and keeping up with the latest trends instead of being hungry for success then we say society is to blame because well we have to blame it on someone or something, whereas no, we allowed society to be the ruler of our lives. It’s not even society though but how we choose to live, who we allow to have influence on us and the people we look up to.
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson