No to follow-for-follow on Medium | Listicle

I Probably Won’t Follow an Egghead

And other reasons I might not follow you, even if you follow me

The term “egghead” harkens back to the earlier days of Twitter when the default profile picture was an egg-shaped icon — accounts that didn’t replace the default icon were dubbed “eggheads.”

This is a listicle post. For those who may not be aware, a “listicle” is post enumerating items of possible interest. In other words, listicles are either numbered or bulleted lists.

“Faces of Medium” created by the author

We all want followers and to connect with fellow writers and other creatives. But, that doesn’t mean willy-nilly following every account on Medium. Neither should we follow back just anyone who follows us. Additionally, we are not obligated to jump on all those suggested follows Medium throws at you.

Someone paying for your dinner on a date never obligates you to anything more. Likewise, someone following you and engaging with your posts does not obligate you to follow back. Never let anyone make you feel like you owe them the presence of your connection just because they followed you.

We women have lived with some men’s expectation that we owe them our time and presence and connection if their eyes fall on us…