Why is there an option to follow someone?

[CCP]

So on facebook its kinda weird. A few people i try to friend have this thing where once you send them a request it automatically follows them. I dont want to follow someone. Thats like them saying you care what i have to say but i dont care what you have to say.

How do i stop it from automatically doing that or do i just have to unfollow?

[Liam Smith]

You can't stop it from happening automatically, you'll have to do it yourself whenever you send a request.

And it's actually quite useful, because for example if the person you're trying to add has too many friends, you can 'follow' them instead to see their wallposts.

It's basically the same as having them on your list, but you cannot inbox them or post on their wall!

[abraXus]

first of all, you have to be at least 18 to make public posts

and on facebook, when you send someone a friend request, you automatically start "following" their PUBLIC posts, but cannot see their "friends only" posts until they approve your friend request

so if that person does not make any public posts, then you wont see anything they post in your news feed

or, if they are under 18, you wont see anything by sending them a friend request, because they cannot make public posts in the first place

to answer your question, your only option is to unfollow them after sending them the request