A person’s use of social media can get pretty complicated pretty quickly. People can end up having so many online “friends” that they can’t properly manage their accounts. Eventually, they may come to the conclusion that they really don’t know half of the people they’re friends with online.

If that ever happens, people can take solace in the fact that they can solve the problem rather quickly on National Unfriend Day. This holiday, which is celebrated on November 17th, encourages all of us to take a good hard look at our friends list and unfriend the people we don’t know or who don’t add something positive to our social networking experience.

The History of National Unfriend Day

This holiday was invented by late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. He announced the holiday on his show on November 17th, 2010. It was a day to encourage people to unfriend those individuals that you really don’t need to be friends with online.

Do you have to be Facebook friends with your 5th-grade bully? Then why are you? Unfriend all of those individuals who you shouldn’t be friends with. That’s the purpose of this holiday.

Observing National Unfriend Day

On this auspicious day, we encourage everyone to take the time to unfriend those people on your social networks who don’t add any real value to your networking experience. Yes, we know, those people will probably also unfollow you, which will lower your number of followers, but is that really a bad thing?

Why continue to friend and follow people online who don’t add anything to your life? And while you’re getting your online priorities in order, don’t forget to use the hashtag #NationalUnfriendDay to spread the word about this holiday all over the Internet. Let’s all simplify our digital lives, and ultimately, strengthen our real lives.