i have known people who were chronic Deleters.
while on one hand it’s perfectly fine to change one’s mind, on the other hand its a foolish attempt at control.
you don’t control anything when you delete things on the web. it’s a web, what you put out there sticks. people screenshot it, people cache it. the web caches it.
but most importantly people remember.
and deleting things helps them remember because it brings more attention to it.
i loved a girl a while ago who started blogs, twitter accounts, facebooks, and would regularly delete them. turned out she was bipolar and refused to treat her condition.
it also turned out she was not being totally honest with the people in her life and her digital footprint often outted her for being less than truthful with some who trusted her.
from that experience i concluded several things, top of which was people who chronically delete things should probably seek professional help because their vain attempt at control is a symptom of something much deeper rooted in mental health.
the good news is these things can be treated.
the bad news is the catch 22: most people with mental health issues don’t realize the depths of their own illness and will fight against the very treatment they would benefit from.
so the best we can do is pray for them and constantly nudge them in the right direction.
sometimes it does truly take a village. so if you care about the village, do your part and nudge your loved ones.