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Facebook & breakup etiquette for teens
From Sunday's NYT:
Late last month, 200 teenagers from Boston-area schools gathered to discuss the minutia of Facebook breakup etiquette. Should you delete pictures of your ex after splitting up? Is it O.K. to unfriend your last girlfriend if you can't stop looking at her profile? And is it ever ethically defensible to change your relationship status to single without first notifying the person whose heart you're crushing?These pressing adolescent questions were part of a one-day conference on "healthy breakups" sponsored by the Boston Public Health Commission. "No one talks to young people about this aspect of relationships," Nicole Daley, one of the conference organizers, told me between breakout sessions as teenagers swarmed a nearby cotton-candy stand. "We're here to change that."
The BPHC website has more information, including links to some useful information on relationships for teens (and parents).
Teenage readers (or teachers or parents of teens)--what do you think about breakups and social media? What do you think about social-skills interventions like these? Obviously I grew up in a different era, but I do recall, as a teenager, feeling that I was often being given general principles to live up to -- "be responsible," "treat others respectfully" -- without necessarily being advised on what that might look like in practice. Perhaps I was merely slow, but I prefer to think my own experience is somewhat common. And if I'm right, then adding a whole bunch of new media for which few rules of conduct have been devised into the equation would make social navigation really tricky for today's adolescents. A chance to share an idea of what works and what doesn't might be welcome.
Or not. What do you think?
The author is solely responsible for the content.
About Miss Conduct
Welcome to Miss Conduct’s blog, a place where the popular Boston Globe Magazine columnist Robin Abrahams and her readers share etiquette tips, unravel social conundrums, and gossip about social behavior in pop culture and the news. Have a question of your own? Ask Robin using this form or by emailing her at missconduct@globe.com.
Welcome to Miss Conduct’s blog, a place where the popular Boston Globe Magazine columnist Robin Abrahams and her readers share etiquette tips, unravel social conundrums, and gossip about social behavior in pop culture and the news. Have a question of your own? Ask Robin using this form or by emailing her at missconduct@globe.com.
contributor
Robin Abrahamswrites the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine and is the author of Miss Conduct's Mind over Manners. Robin has a PhD in psychology from Boston University and also works as a research associate at Harvard Business School. Her column is informed by her experience as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Marc Abrahams, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and their socially challenged but charismatic dog, Milo.
Who is Miss Conduct?
Robin Abrahamswrites the weekly "Miss Conduct" column for The Boston Globe Magazine and is the author of Miss Conduct's Mind over Manners. Robin has a PhD in psychology from Boston University and also works as a research associate at Harvard Business School. Her column is informed by her experience as a theater publicist, organizational-change communications manager, editor, stand-up comedian, and professor of psychology and English. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Marc Abrahams, the founder of the Ig Nobel Prizes, and their socially challenged but charismatic dog, Milo.
