Facebook is mainly about finding out old friends, connecting with them and making new friends. It is a wonderful tool for networking and connecting with people all over the world. In Facebook, friend requests play an important role, and they are delicate and can create problems. Many people have this tendency of adding random people and increasing their friends count. But there are several people you should not add friend because it might be invasive and can complicate your life. Sometimes, friend requests can get you into troubles and adding some people might become troublesome. As Facebook is all about your personal life and photos, it turns into a stalk book for some. So, in the end it’s all up to you to decide whether those friend requests are really worth accepting or setting them aside would be a better idea. Here are a few tips to help you to judge whether to add a person as a friend or not.
8.Strangers
Right from childhood, we have always been told not to make friends with strangers and the same applies for Facebook too. Complete strangers should always be ignored, unless there is a message along with the request explaining who they are. If there are no mutual friends, there is really no point. However, if there is a good reason for a stranger sending friend request, then you might take it into consideration. Otherwise, hitting ignore button is the best possible option because once you let someone be a part of your Facebook world, it could get awkward if you find out later that they can never be your real friend and instead just sent you a friend request to poke a nose in your life.
7. Your Boss, Clients
It is always suggested that one should maintain a distance between personal and professional life and that is why bosses and employees should never be friends on Facebook. Being friendly with your bosses and co-workers is good to maintain a healthy environment but showcasing them your life in a public way can prove problematic at times. If there is no healthy relation between you and your colleague which can be inviting on dinner, family trips, then I would not recommend you to try and make friends with them on Facebook. Further, to deny any complaints, you can always tell them that you don’t use Facebook much. Adding your boss as friend can create problems in situations like you take sick leave and go for excursion trips and he sees all your photos. It is risky to use Facebook during work if you have added your boss as friend because they will know through your updates that your face-booking and not working. By adding your boss, you can no longer talk about what a bad day you had at work and what an annoying boss you have. Thus, ignoring the friend request of your boss is the best option.
6.Your Child
Parents have every right to keep parts of their lives private from their children. Boundaries are a good thing. Yes, you should keep a check on your child as to what they’re doing online and who has access to their info, but you might not like your kids to intervene in your Facebook profile and have access to your personal information.
5. Professors
I think you should have a different relationship with your professors, because it is very difficult to have a friend relationship. Having your professor as Facebook friend could hurt your credibility and relationship with them if you aren’t careful enough. Pictures of you partying, drinking; your status and wall posts might create a bad image of yours in your professor’s mind. Your professor shouldn’t know every single detail about your personal life and you shouldn’t know every single one of his or hers. Not being friends with your professor on Facebook doesn’t mean that you can’t chat about class and go to them for educational guidance when needed. It only means that you don’t need to see pictures of his latest special moments. It is not professional to befriend your teacher on Facebook.
4. Bad Stalking Friends
Facebook stalking has become very common and a serious issue these days. Many people have the tendency to peep in someone’s timeline or wall and stalk them regularly. It is complicated to deal with a situation of being stalked on Facebook. If the person stalking you is pinging you every time you’re online, sending you constant messages in your inbox, is always commenting on and liking all your posts and photos, and is barely leaving you alone, your response can range anywhere from irritation to frustration and finding it unpleasant, difficult to deal with, and overwhelming. However, the intention behind the person bothering you matters; as there is a huge difference between friends and family members checking your updates and online information and a person who is clinging and commenting over everything you do. The best way to get rid of such bad stalking friends is to ignore their friend requests because Facebook stalking has become very serious and should be dealt properly.
3. Your Relatives
Sometimes your relatives can create serious mess in your life by keeping your parents updated about each and everything you do. It is irritating to have relatives that are older than you reading your stuff. During your results, they would be the first person to post on your wall and embarrass you. Adding cousins on Facebook can also prove dangerous; as they just might go and tell about your updates to their mom who is going to tell your mom and then it’s going to come back to kill you. Everybody has their limits and level of privacy on how involved they want their family to be in their lives, and everybody has only limited patience to deal with such nosey relatives. So, it is not a safe idea to accept friend request of your relatives on Facebook.
2. Your Ex-Girlfriend/ Boyfriend
Facebook is all about developing relations, keeping your friend updated and communicating with them. It is an extension to your personal life. So, adding your ex after your relationship might not be a good idea. You can simply ignore the request, or send him/her an amicable message saying thank-you for the request but you feel it’s best not to be reconnected. The more updates you get to see of that person, the more difficult it would be for you to get over things and move on. It could also revive feelings of anger and frustration from the relationship. At times, it is tempting so be updated about your ex’s life and to know what they are up to, but you’ll probably get much more information you expected or wanted which might create problems and chaos in your life all over again. However, you can always give a thought to add your long ago ex. It is OK to start things afresh and keep normal friendship by accepting the friend request.
1. Your Parents
For your mom and dad, you will always be their cute little innocent baby and it is very difficult for parents to switch roles from parent to a friend so easily. For a parent, it will always be annoying to see his/her child drunk or in other states or conditions the parents were completely unaware their kids were in. It can be annoying or even embarrassing when your parents barges in on your conversations and comments something mushy or blunt on everything you post. If your parents are constantly stalking your page and bombarding you with questions that make you feel like you have no social life or privacy, then it would be advisable to not to accept their friend request. On the other hand, there is always an option of adding your parents and changing your privacy settings and hiding unwanted things from them.
