Our friends are supposed to be our well-wishers standing by us no matter what. However, they can also be our worst enemies reveals a recent poll that looks at toxic friendship. According to the poll eight in ten of us put up with people who cause more harm than good. While a recent survey indicates that 84 percent of women struggle with so-called ‘toxic friends’ who are self-absorbed, emotionally draining, critical, or backstabbing. Sixty-five percent of those polled complained of having a self-obsessed friend, and 59 per-cent accused their closest acquaintances of being emotional ‘vampires’ — draining all their energy reserves.
The poll, of 18,000 women and 4,000 men by an international magazine found just over half had an over-critical friend, while 45 percent reported backstabbing behavior and barbed comments. Though a third admitted that they would end a friendship with someone who was untrustworthy, 83 percent said that they had let a friendship drag on longer than it should have done because the prospect of ‘breaking up’ was too daunting. Instead, 37 percent blocked those they didn’t like on a social networking site, while 53 ‘downgraded’ friends from people they saw regularly to just occasionally.
Social Distancing and Toxic Friendships
This period of social distancing may increase our loneliness, but it’s really only exacerbating a problem that’s been building for years. Five toxic friend personality types -
5 signs someone is toxic on Social Media:
●︎ You feel anxious or sad when you see their posts.
●︎ You find yourself playing the comparison game. And ultimately putting yourself down for not being as successful, as attractive, as fit, as bold, etc.
●︎ You’re only following the person in order to “stalk” or keep up with their life. Like a past friend or an ex-significant other or friends of an ex.
●︎ You find yourself starting to avoid or continue scrolling when you see their handle pop up in your feed.
●︎ Their posts appear to be negative or hostile. Especially if it seems like their thoughts/posts demonstrate all-or-nothing or black and white thinking.
The key is knowing that you are in control of the content you see, and it’s OK to make changes that benefit your personal wellbeing.
The poll, of 18,000 women and 4,000 men by an international magazine found just over half had an over-critical friend, while 45 percent reported backstabbing behavior and barbed comments. Though a third admitted that they would end a friendship with someone who was untrustworthy, 83 percent said that they had let a friendship drag on longer than it should have done because the prospect of ‘breaking up’ was too daunting. Instead, 37 percent blocked those they didn’t like on a social networking site, while 53 ‘downgraded’ friends from people they saw regularly to just occasionally.
Social Distancing and Toxic Friendships
This period of social distancing may increase our loneliness, but it’s really only exacerbating a problem that’s been building for years. Five toxic friend personality types -
- Self-absorbed
- Emotional vampires
- Over-critical
- Backstabbing
- Unreliable
5 signs someone is toxic on Social Media:
●︎ You feel anxious or sad when you see their posts.
●︎ You find yourself playing the comparison game. And ultimately putting yourself down for not being as successful, as attractive, as fit, as bold, etc.
●︎ You’re only following the person in order to “stalk” or keep up with their life. Like a past friend or an ex-significant other or friends of an ex.
●︎ You find yourself starting to avoid or continue scrolling when you see their handle pop up in your feed.
●︎ Their posts appear to be negative or hostile. Especially if it seems like their thoughts/posts demonstrate all-or-nothing or black and white thinking.
The key is knowing that you are in control of the content you see, and it’s OK to make changes that benefit your personal wellbeing.
This post is part of Blogchatter #CauseAChatter
