The Internet Is Roasting This ‘Sociopathic’ Viral TikTok Tutorial for How to Break Up With a Friend
What would you do if your friend broke up with you in a monologue that sounds like a work email?
Clinical psychologist Arianna Brandolini posted a viral TikTok doing pretty much exactly that on Jan. 9, and let's just say many people were not into it.
"I've noticed you've been withdrawn and haven't wanted to hang out recently. What's going on?" Brandolini says in the clip, pretending to be the friend who's about to get broken up with
"I've treasured our season of friendship but we're moving in different directions in life. I don't have the capacity to invest in our friendship any longer," Brandolini adds, demonstrating what to say as the one doing the breaking up.
"I get that it might be hard to understand, but I've been reevaluating many areas of my life recently, including my ability to be a good friend to you. I just want to be honest and up front so I don't disappoint your expectations. I'm sorry if this feels painful and confusing. I wish you all love and success," she continues.
Watch the full skit below:
Needless to say, viewers were torn by the cold demonstration.
"The corporatization of our personal lives," one person commented, while another person wrote: "This feels too clean too cold and completely divorced from the reality of actually letting a friend go."
One person wrote that the example seemed "ingenuous, grandiose, uncaring and preplanned."
Others shared they'd rather just be ghosted.
"Yeah if someone did this to me I would cuss her out," someone commented.
"I'm all for friendship breakups and being honest but if my friend broke up with me like a corporate boss, I'd never get over that," another agreed.
"This is really sociopathic," one comment read, which echoed a similar sentiment shared on Twitter by writer Louis Peitzman.
"Sociopathy but make it self-care," he tweeted.
"I'm begging self care people to just be normal," someone else tweeted.
"What happened to just peacefully drifting apart over the years? why does it have to be a work meeting???" another person tweeted.
"I’m an abolitionist, but there should be a prison sentence for anyone who ends a friendship this way," someone else joked.
While the reactions to the original video were mostly negative, a few TikTok commenters seemed to agree with the way Brandolini approached the subject.
"I used your exact lines here just to end a toxic friendship that I had a few minutes ago. Thank you so much!" someone commented.
"This is almost exactly how I’ve ended a friendship," another shared.
"I do think like this, but it veers more towards this person doesn’t contribute anything meaningful, my energy is better spent elsewhere," someone else weighed in.