Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Just out of interest - have many of you looked up old ex’s on social media

89 replies

Whohashiddenthebiscuits · 09/02/2022 17:09

No biggie just curious if I’m in the complete minority! DH & I were watching a programme last night in which the central character looks up an ex on Facebook and makes contact with them. Which started a conversation about looking up previous partners etc up on social media.

DH knows I’ve done that (I don’t think it’s a big deal and what many of us do.. I think, maybe this post will prove otherwise!) and his opinion was that it was ‘pretty weird and stalkery’ and he wouldn’t think to even look. He wouldn’t have it that this might just be normal curiousity and what many others might actually have done too!

(For the record, at one point or the other I’ve checked out ex boyfriends on Facebook & LinkedIn just to see how their lives & careers turned out, whether they seem to have got married etc. But just to be clear, I’ve only done this as a one off snoop which I think is a million miles away from regularly checking their social media which I do think falls into the stalkery bracket! The only ex I’ve ever sent a friends request too is my ex university boyfriend who is a good friend!)

OP posts:
ChaToilLeam · 10/02/2022 14:48

I’m friends with quite a few and have had a little snoop at some others. Most now married with children, seem to be doing fine in life, in a couple of cases on the other side of the world!

Only one of the not-very-nice ones tried to get back in touch and I just ignored.

AryaStarkWolf · 10/02/2022 14:50

of course I have, just because I'm very nosy Grin

babyjellyfish · 10/02/2022 14:50

I am friends with most of mine on Facebook. I could look them up any time I wanted but I rarely do. I still speak to one of them from time to time.

Onlyforcake · 10/02/2022 14:52

For the main they're out there on SM as friends but we are not especially close. There is one who I'd never stalk, don't miss and thankfully she's never looked me up that I am aware of. There's also one who is heavily blocked.

KimchiWithMe · 10/02/2022 15:46

Those that say they haven't are fibbing.

PAFMO · 10/02/2022 15:50

That's why social media was invented! Surely? Confused
It should be law that all exes have to have a SM account and keep it public.

lucythejuicy · 10/02/2022 15:58

Of course - everyone does don't they?

incognitoforthisone · 10/02/2022 16:04

Oh yes, absolutely. I'm actually Facebook friends with one of them (someone I was with for a couple of years when I was in my late teens) but I've looked up the others too. Two of them just from idle curiosity in a 'Oh god, remember him? I wonder what on earth he's doing these days?' kind of way, and one of them because he was extremely violent and abusive to me in the relationship and it genuinely gave me peace of mind to know what town he was living in so I could make sure I never went there. After checking up on him once a year or so for a few years, two years ago I looked at his Facebook and he'd actually died. Not going to lie: it was a hell of a relief.

tigger1001 · 10/02/2022 16:28

[quote Whohashiddenthebiscuits]@tigger1001, sounds like it. Not pleasant but not much you can do about it. You do say he was violent - if you have genuine & serious concerns about this then perhaps alert building security?

Yep there is the flip side of knowing you’ve been looked at too. My DD1s Dad who I split up with over 20 years ago several women (and other kids) down the line is now married to a Filipina woman younger than DD1. Facebook keeps suggesting her as a friend so perhaps she has checked me out![/quote]
Sadly no building security where I work. But I'm hopeful that there is so little info on there for me that he may suspect it's me but can't confirm. I just thought it was odd. Our relationship ended over 20 years ago. But he actively looked me up on LinkedIn 6 months ago??

I hope never to see him again and honestly don't care what he's doing now.

I've never looked up any other exs either. It's never occurred to me.

maddy68 · 10/02/2022 16:30

I have some on my social media but others yes of course I've checked out

the80sweregreat · 10/02/2022 16:30

Yep, ( don't think any of them have looked me up though to be honest !! 😂 )

EBearhug · 10/02/2022 16:39

I'm still in touch with most of them, so we're friends on FB anyway.

I'm more interested in cyberstalking potential new relationships, but quite a lot of the men I meet working IT support and cybersecurity and such fields and have very little publically accessible social media presence. This partly true for me, too - I'm not on Twitter or Insta or TikTok or others.

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 10/02/2022 16:52

Surely that's the point of social media? Grin

I look up ex's, old friends from school/university, ex-colleagues, old bosses - all sorts of people, really. It's just nosiness.

All my own profiles are well and truly locked down as a result, lol.

FizzyTango · 10/02/2022 16:57

Yeh, I’m a nosy person. Just pure curiosity of how things turned out for them!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page