Heartbreak

Announcing The First Annual Break Up With Your Ex Day

Break Up With Your Ex
Back in the day, breakups were easier: you took an ex's picture off the mantel, packed his stuff in a box, burned his letters, and tried to move on. Today, however, Facebook updates, Tweets, and Foursquare check-ins provide a constant stream of information about people, making a clean break almost impossible. Recognizing the value of being liberated from an old flame, we've declared February 13 as the first annual "Break Up With Your Ex" day.

In our recent breakup survey that over 1,000 of you participated in (thanks!!) 71 percent of respondents said they think about their ex too much and 48 percent (including 42 percent of married people!) said they look at their ex's Facebook or other social networking profile too often. Clearly this is a widespread problem.

Our mission at YourTango is to help you live your best love life, but you can't do that when you're tethered to the past. Keeping in touch with, or even just keeping tabs on an ex can make it harder to embrace the present, whether you're healing from the breakup, looking for new love, or embracing a new relationship. That's why we've declared February 13 as the first annual "Break Up With Your Ex" day. Valentine's Day falls on February 14, and we want you to be completely free of your ex on that symbolic day of love.

With that in mind, between now and February 13 we encourage you to unfriend your former boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses and partners on Facebook. You can also take these additional steps: 

  • Unfollow your ex on Twitter, Foursquare and any other social networking sites;
  • Untag and/or delete photos of yourself and that person online, on your computer and phone;
  • Delete songs and playlists that remind you of the person;
  • Block or erase the person on Google chat, AIM and other instant messaging services;
  • Delete their numbers from your phone and their email addresses from your address book;
  • Enlist the support of friends and community to detach and stay detached from your ex;
  • Get back into the dating scene to complete the moving-on process.

To help you succeed, we've created tools that are available on our Facebook page, as well as via www.BreakUpWithYourEx.com. You can,

  • Post badges to your profile reporting your progress (I unfollowed my ex on Twitter!; I unfriended my ex!; I broke up with my ex!);
  • Send virtual gifts to your friends (a Facebook Stalker Star for friends who need to break up with their ex; a Facebook Support Star for friends who are having a hard time);
  • Take quizzes (Do you need to break up with your ex?)
  • And more!

Visit our Facebook page today and start breaking up with your ex!