I have not sat down to write a blog post in like forever but this thing is burning on my chest and I need to get it off somehow, since it seems to fall on numb ears every time.
It is okay to block people on social media! This is my humble opinion, so if you do not agree, that’s fine, but also I really don’t care. I just wanna take away the negative stigma that still has its stance when it comes to blocking people.
First of all, me deciding I don’t want to see your content anymore is not always a personal thing. It can be, sure, but it doesn’t have to. There can be so many triggers in a post you don’t even realize. I am not saying you do them intentionally and because of that you are a bad person. All I am saying is your posts, stories, words, whatever can have an impact and it is often not in your power to decide whether that impact is negative or positive upon the viewers. Why not just unfollow then? Sometimes it is just not enough. Sometimes you have to keep yourself from excessively checking someones profile or you have to gain some distance. And that is okay. You have the power to create an environment that benefits you instead of being bad for your mental health. Use that power wisely, even if it means to block someone. I, as an example, once blocked a very good friend of mine because we had a fight and it was hard for me to see how unaffected she seemed to be about it. I had to cut myself off to reduce my suffering. After a few weeks we made up and I explained my reasons why I blocked her. Instead of getting mad and calling me childish or petty she was understanding and we went on with our lifes and our friendship. Easy peasy. Another time I blocked my ex boyfriend after the break-up. I don’t hate him, I just wanted closure. As simple as that.
A second reason to block someone, that I have definitely also done before, is gaining privacy. Since I do not have a private account everyone can see my posts. That is a decision that I made. I have no problem with random strangers looking at my photos on instagram or my videos on tiktok or whatever. However, I do have a problem with certain people, whether I know them well or not, making assumptions about my life in a negative light. This went as far to where it actually interfered with my life and I was not gonna let that happen. If you can not mind your own business, you lose the priviledge to have even the tiniest insight in mine. Of course, I have no power over what others think of me and I shouldn’t even care. But if you use that 10% of my life that I share online as an excuse to spread your poison, you’ll be seeing 0% from then on. I must add, if you want one certain person out of your life, this often spreads to their friends. If you have absolutely no problems with the other people in the circle of that one specific person, sometimes you still have to go that extra mile and block all of them. Because sadly, some people really are so interested and invested in your life for some reason, that they go out of their way to check your profile from other people’s phones.
Last but not least, the most unproblematic and problematic block at the same time. If random strangers, in my case men, slide into your DM’s and ask you out and won’t take no for an answer. Sometimes they spam you with compliments and won’t stop no matter how many times you’ve asked. Another option that happens quite a lot to me is when they’re tiny fragile ego gets hurt and as a result they start to insult you. Or, in the worst case, send you unsolicited inappropriate pictures. So do not ever feel bad for blocking these kind of people. Even better, if they really take it too far, report them. You don’t owe them anything.
I pledge to all of you out there to think more before talking or acting in a poor way because you might have been blocked by someone. Whatever the reason may be, please just take a step back and think about it before raging against the person that blocked you. I guarantee they had their reasons. Maybe you triggered them in some way, which, as I said is not always your intention and you don’t have to feel bad about it. Maybe you share a group of friends with someone they want to hide their life from because it’s affecting them negatively. Maybe they just moved on from you because people grow and change and that is only natural. If you go into yourself and reflect for a moment and you find it could be those reasons, don’t pressure yourself. If you come to realize though, that you have behaved poorly and have interfered in that person’s life in a way that harmed them, get better!
