How to keep social-media friends but ignore their politics
We're so close. In less than 100 days, we'll have elected a new president.
But these last days will be filled with social-media anarchy as the candidates and their followers ramp up the political-speak and overall nonsense.
The worst part of that can sometimes be learning just how much you disagree with your friends and family on politics. So I have for you some quick tips for how to mute all that noise on your social-media accounts without losing your "friends."
Imagine a social-media experience where you can post all the kid and pet photos you want without having to be yelled at by people.
That's the America I want. Here is how I got it.
This is the primary offender. People love to share links that back their claim or yell at people who disagree. Facebook takes a step further by letting you see everything your friends do across the social service.
The first thing you need to do is nothing. Don't comment, like, share or interact at all with friends you're trying to avoid. Facebook will prioritize posts by friends you interact with the most but doesn't really know you're telling them to shut up.
So stop commenting on stuff you don't want to see. Conversely, never stop commenting on things you really want to see on your feed.
Second thing is you can unfollow people and still technically be their Facebook friend. I have a ton of people in this category. Just click on their profile, go to "Following" and select "Unfollow".
You'll still be friends with this person but you won't see any of their posts or Facebook activity. You can also "Block" people but that seems a bit too aggressive for my tastes.
One last tip for Facebook is more of a reminder that you can turn off notifications for posts you're tired of arguing about. We've all done it. You leave a comment, then can't help going back in to argue your point with the world.
Just turn off notifications for that specific post and enjoy the quiet.
Now, Twitter is my favorite way to filter for news and things happening in real time. I also love it because you can turn off the one social-media device I hate the most: the dreaded retweet.
Raise your hand if you have friends who just retweet all the things. Well, you can stop that.
Click on the profile you're trying to rein in, click on the cog icon, then select "Turn off retweets". That will take care of much of the political spam you see if you have friends who spend their days retweeting.
The more passive-aggressive feature is the "Mute." In that same menu you'll see the ability to seamlessly erase your feed of that person's posts. It can be pretty therapeutic.
Twitter also lets you outright block somebody but I save that exclusively for Los Angeles Dodgers fans. They're the worst.
I much prefer to let people have their say without them saying it to me while we retain the illusion of social-media friendship.
The others
Snapchat and Instagram increasingly are being used to spread political ramblings but not so much that I feel they need tips past just don't follow people you don't want to hear from.
It's going to be a tough couple of months, I think. But hopefully these quick social-media survival tips will help you come out clean and with some friends remaining.