Searches for “How to ghost a friend” jumped by 189 per cent last month, according to Google Trends. “How to break up with a friend” searches are up 136 per cent.
I’m fixating on this fact obsessively – you are not alone; you’re not a monster! – as I mull my own potential cull. It seems a horrible thing to even be contemplating: extracting myself from a friendship, or friendships (plural). But in all honesty, they don’t even feel like friendships anymore. More like an old, not particularly enjoyable, habit that we’ve both outgrown, like biting your finger skin or relentlessly picking at a scab.
