Healthy breakups?

Are daters entitled to pain-free breakups?

I asked that question after reading this article about a recent conference designed to help teens have "healthy breakups." An excerpt:

To help the youngsters envision what a healthy split might look like, pictures and videos of several celebrity couples who managed amicable breakups were projected onto a big screen. Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz, for example, were heralded as healthy because "they’re still friends and were able to co-star in a movie together."

Their parting was juxtaposed with those of Kanye West and Amber Rose (West wrote a mean song about her) and Sammi and Ronnie from "Jersey Shore" (Sammi supposedly defriended Ronnie’s friends on her Facebook page), who each exhibited the kind of "unhealthy" breakup behavior that the Boston Health Commission hopes Massachusetts young people will rise above.

The world has changed a lot since I was a love-hungry teen. Back in my day, we had fewer ways to crush somebody's soul upon severing romantic ties. So yes, I suppose it's good to have discussions about how Facebook etiquette increases or decreases heartache.

That said, I'm not sure you can apply the term "healthy" to any breakup -- regardless of your age.

The intangible parts of a breakup often hurt more than nasty Facebook comments or heartless tweets. There's no magic conference that will force the rest of the world to play nicely with your emotions.

Sorry.

(via Slate)