How to Avoid Your Ex on Social Media

"Move on" is what people say to you when a relationship ends. But the memories can be too much and you might want to, like the characters in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, erase the other person completely. But it's not your mind that might hold onto the reminders of your former flame, it's social media.

While there are all sorts of rom-com-inspired ways to avoid running into your ex in real life, steering clear of them on social media requires more finesse and is in many ways more necessary. A study out of the U.K.'s Brunel University found that emotional recovery from a breakup can be severely stunted just by remaining Facebook friends.

You might not want to face the unpleasantness that goes along with unfriending and unfollowing your ex. But you also don't want your heart to plummet when you see them Instagram dreamy dinners for two or (deep breath), change their relationship status. So what can you do?

Facebook
Facebook is pretty much the worst when it comes to breakups. You share friends and photos with your ex and see their status updates not just when they're posted but when friends comment on them. You can no longer hide people in your news feed, but there are other options. If you use Chrome you can install the Eternal Sunshine plugin to prevent a person's status updates from appearing in your news feed and removing the person from your chat list. You can avoid having to sort through your profile to erase your ex by using KillSwitch, an app that removes everything tagged with their name from your profile. KillSwitch can save everything in a folder on Facebook just in case you get back together.

Twitter
Former lovebirds can't be silenced on Twitter itself unless you unfollow. Use an app like TweetDeck and you can mute them, though. Once you have TweetDeck running, go to the gear icon, select Settings, then locate the Mute tab, select User, type in the user name of the account, and click Mute.

Foursquare
If you no longer want to follow in their every Foursquare footstep, wondering if that check-in is going to lead to a hookup, just go to your friends list and select Turn Notifications Off next to their name.

Snapchat
Sending Snapchats to your ex is a definite no but you might receive some just because they decide to blast their friends list. You can block them so that you don't appear on their list by going to their name, tapping the gear icon, and clicking Block. You can always undo the action yourself later on, which you can't do if you select Delete.

Instagram
We're sorry to say that in the way Instagram preserves fleeting moments, it does the same with your ex. Unfollowing them is the only way not to be subject to their snaps.

The Nuclear Option
If you want to create a parallel-universe Internet where your ex doesn't exist, then install the Block Your Ex browser plugin. You enter their first and last name, Twitter handle, Facebook URL, and their Tumblr or other blog, and they're rubbed out.

For more, check out The 5 Stages of Online Love, as well as Valentine's Day Gifts for Her and Valentine's Day Gifts for Him.