Celebrate National Unfriend Day on November 17, 2017

Cut ties with the dozens of Facebook “friends” you barely remember, whose names are unrecognizable or you’ll probably never talk to again. If you are annoyed by the clutter of posts and updates you don’t care about–endless photos of meals, vacations and television show spoilers—24 hours a day all year long, then National Unfriend Day (November 17, 2017) is the perfect holiday for you.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel founded National Unfriend Day in 2014 to combat the trend of collecting friends like Pokémon cards and accumulating a ridiculous number of friends you hardly know. By getting rid of distant acquaintances on this holiday, it can allow you to better stay in touch with individuals you truly care about.

Spend time with true friends and unclog the clutter on Facebook on November 17, 2017.

How to Celebrate National Unfriend Day

Ironically, there is a Facebook page for National Unfriend Day, which you can like. It suggests criteria to use in deciding who to unfriend. These people include those who always ask you to lend them money, constantly invite you to like whatever page they are obsessed with or always complain about every little thing that happens to them.

Take advantage of this judgement-free day to ditch the total strangers on your friend list.

Think about the real friends in your life and the possibility that you may be neglecting them. Phone or meet up with the people who care about you and your well-being. Instead of continuously taking pictures of activities to quickly post to Facebook, just enjoy time with actual friends, family or significant others.

National Unfriend Day Facts and Quotes

1) In addition to getting rid of the excess clutter of Facebook posts from people you don’t really know, it is important to note that easy access to just about anyone, anywhere on the globe exposes personal information to theft and misuse. In the digital age, it is imperative to protect identities.

2) It is important to reduce and replace time spent on social media with face-to-face human interaction.

3) Teenagers spend about nine hours a day consuming media, which includes one and a half hours spent on social media, according to a report by Common Sense Media.

4) Compared to other social networks, Facebook is the leading social network with about 1.6 billion active monthly users as of January 2016. This is compared to active monthly users on WhatsApp (900 million), Instagram (400 million) and Twitter (320 million).

5) The average Facebook user has 338 friends. Twenty-seven percent of young Facebook users have more than 500 friends compared to an average of 100 friends for 72 percent of Facebook users who are older than 65.

6) An estimated 36 percent of Facebook users strongly dislike it when people share too much information or photos about themselves. In addition, they dislike it when people post their photos without asking permission.

7) Facebook offers the possibility of making friends into acquaintances. Your acquaintance list can be separated from your friend list, allowing you to publish and read friend-only content.

8) “I encourage you to cut some of the friend fat in your life. A friend is someone you have a special relationship with. It’s not someone who asks which Harry Potter character you are.”
— Jimmy Kimmel

9) “Remember five years ago when no one had Facebook and you didn’t know what the guy you took high school biology with was having for lunch? Remember how that was fine? Let’s go back to that.”
— Jimmy Kimmel