I was recently reminded by The Guardian columnist Eva Wiseman why I never mix romance and social media. In her hilarious column Online Love, Wiseman discusses the latest dating fads designed to make breaking up easier.

What really got me thinking when I read the piece, though, is the admin involved in breaking-up and how social media only adds to that load.

No matter how amicable break-ups are, they involve a certain level of management. I am not talking about the actual moment of splitting up, but rather what happens afterwards when the decision has been made. Whether you decide to be friends or non-speaking exes, the admin of breaking up can be a minefield, which could be avoided if we all had the luxury of starting a new life without memories and reminders.

One of the worst bits of admin in my opinion is returning your ex's stuff, which is why I involve third parties. After my last major break-up, I asked our matchmaker to act as our go-between, since she was in contact with both of us. Her job - besides filling me in on his life - was to get all my stuff back and to find out from him how much of his stuff I really needed to give back. Having been dumped, I felt entitled to some valuable keepsakes.

Then there are the mutual friends who get caught in the crossfire of the break-up. The effort of managing these friendships after the break-up is stressful, because which friendships do you keep and which ones become causalities of the split? I know people who have told mutual friends to choose a side or hit the road.

A friend of mine who is a Facebook junkie has three times the usual break-up admin because she and her ex also shared their life on social media. On Facebook, more than half her friends are his, and almost all 600 of her photos have him in them.

Out of the social media sphere this is an uncomfortable situation, but at least she could privately pack away the photos and pick friends she wanted to keep or avoid without sounding off alarm bells to the world. Now she is in the process of editing her photographs with all 1200 of her Facebook friends as witnesses. She is perhaps braver and more sensible than our mutual friend who, during the process of dumping her boyfriend, simply set up new Facebook and Twitter accounts, which excluded all reminders of her ex.

When your recently defunct relationship is not on social media, you at least have time to mourn your split before taking decisive action and putting the past behind you. Break-ups where social media accounts are involved require a quick response time. By the time your partner has changed their relationship status from "in a relationship" - or my personal favourite, "it's complicated" - to "single", you've had to have moved just as quickly, or you risk having egg on your face.

Maybe I am old fashioned and overly cautious, but there is still dignity in handling your business offline.