problems / situationships
39. The Ex Watches Your Stories
Every story. Within the hour. Never a message, never a like — just the little avatar at the top of the viewer list, punctual as a standup meeting. You've started noticing. Worse: you've started posting FOR the viewer list. Handle the ghost in your analytics.
inputfirst viewer on every story, within the hour: the ex. current streak: 34 days. your last story: suspiciously good lighting. coincidence: unlikely.22:04
wrong answerPosting the thriving montage FOR them (they're now your content strategist and they don't even pay you), watching their stories back in a tit-for-tat surveillance treaty, or the passive-aggressive story with a caption designed to be decoded (poetry for an audience of one).✗ not delivered
acceptedPost exactly what you'd post if the viewer list didn't exist. If you catch yourself curating for the ghost — twice in one week — that's your cue: mute them from your viewer awareness, or remove them from the audience entirely. Quietly. No announcement.read 22:09 ✓✓
Constraints
- Story views are not communication. A view means their thumb passed by. Build no cathedral on a thumbprint.
- No decoder-ring captions. If a post requires the ex to interpret it correctly, it's a letter, and letters get sent or burned — not published.
- The mutual-surveillance treaty (you watch theirs, they watch yours, nobody speaks) is a situationship with extra steps and no dessert. Exit it.
- Removing them from your audience is allowed, unannounced, guilt-free. Your stories are a party; you can trim the guest list.
Hints
- They're not watching because they want you back. They're watching because watching costs nothing. Price your hope accordingly.
- The healthiest read of the viewer list is not reading it.
- The day you post something great and genuinely forget to check whether they saw it — that's the day it's actually over. It's a good day. It arrives without ceremony.