DEAR HARRIETTE: I am getting sick of social media. People who I have never heard of ask if they can be my friend. Why would I want to be friends with them? Then all these people invite me to join them in online games that I do not want to play. That didn't happen at first. When I got on Facebook initially, I enjoyed catching up with old friends from high school and college and from my hometown, but now it feels almost like work. There are too many people's feelings to manage. How can I keep talking to the ones I want to and get rid of the rest? -- Media Crazy, Washington, D.C.
DEAR MEDIA CRAZY: The good news about using social media is that you remain in control of what you can and cannot do and with whom you engage. You can change your settings on Facebook, for example, to allow only a limited number of people to see your page or communicate with you. You can set it up so that no one can post on your page. You can delete people if you do not want to be connected to them anymore.
It could seem harsh to unfriend people, but you can if you want to. You can also choose not to respond to the people with the annoying game nudges. You do not have to talk to people when they message you. What you must remember is that you are in charge of yourself and the way that your social media pages are used. As long as you keep that fact top of mind, it will be easier for you to notice the activity on your page without getting absorbed in the drama of it.