You know them. The ones who need your validation as a pacifier NOW. How the F do you unload these people without pissing off the mutual other friends. I just want her to leave me the F alone already. The texts. The selfies. The group chats. Get a hobby.

Sounds like you are lucky you have anyone looking for your validation at all - not worth much based on your own words...
um it's a pandemic and I am holding down a full time job plus schooling 2 kids. Your text can wait.
take forever to respond and take a break from social media. Also put her on the do not disturb mode so your phone doesn’t ping when she texts.
Yeah that's more or less what my therapist said.... honestly if we didn't havr friends in common I would have faded.
When I was growing up, my mother had a friend who was a very kind person. My mom was very fond of her and they spent a good amount of time together, especially when they both had small children. She was the person my mom would call in a pinch to babysit for me or to borrow something or vice versa. But this woman had a hard life with her husband and her own family or origin and she was needy. She would often do things like be at our house and not take the hint that it was time to go or call late in the evening. There were no smart phones back then so people rang you on a landline or actually came to the house and rang the doorbell. Anyway, in today's world this woman would probably have no friends because people are so quick to fade or ghost when someone does something that makes them even slightly uncomfortable or annoyed. My mother would have never faded this woman. She had an approach that seems unfathomable now. She would just firmly but kindly say "it's 4pm and I've got to start dinner now so you need to go home and I'll call you tomorrow." Or she would answer the phone and say "if it's not an emergency, I can't talk now. This is too late for me." And that was that. They remained good friends for many years.
When I was growing up, my mother had a friend who was a very kind person. My mom was very fond of her and they spent a good amount of time together, especially when they both had small children. She was the person my mom would call in a pinch to babysit for me or to borrow something or vice versa. But this woman had a hard life with her husband and her own family or origin and she was needy. She would often do things like be at our house and not take the hint that it was time to go or call late in the evening. There were no smart phones back then so people rang you on a landline or actually came to the house and rang the doorbell. Anyway, in today's world this woman would probably have no friends because people are so quick to fade or ghost when someone does something that makes them even slightly uncomfortable or annoyed. My mother would have never faded this woman. She had an approach that seems unfathomable now. She would just firmly but kindly say "it's 4pm and I've got to start dinner now so you need to go home and I'll call you tomorrow." Or she would answer the phone and say "if it's not an emergency, I can't talk now. This is too late for me." And that was that. They remained good friends for many years.