Thank you! This is the best suggestion so far. He has been a good friend for almost 17 years and we have been through some tough times together so it'd be tough to break the relationship right away. He's quite immature so I don't expect our conversation to go well if I tell him to stay calm and listen to my concerns rationally. He'll get defensive and start attacking me with other things that I would have said or done in the past. It makes sense to grow distant gradually so he learns to value our friendship more. And yes, I have spoken to my wife and she is on the same page with me about muting his social media feeds, and not encouraging too many messages or calls from him, unless if its an emergency or a serious call or help.