I always felt like it was wrong to block an account unless it was smth absolutely insane. Nazis etc.
But now I’m blocking people who’s tone I dont like, or who are baiting or actingnin bad faith.
I know I can’t do it as a mod. But i can certainly do it as an individual now. Judgy comment? Blocked. Unnecessarily confrontational? Blocked.
This is new to me, literally 3 days. Wonder how this affects my feed. Only disappointing thing is they can still see and respond to my posts, just that I can’t see it. I wish they couldn’t see anything I posted either.
What are your blocking habits? If you do block a lot of people, has that affected your experience?
You’ve no obligation to socialize with everyone in real life, why should online be any different?
If someone is consistently annoying, rude or spouting noxious stuff, you’re perfectly reasonable in blocking them.
Interaction in written text online is still a fairly unnatural way for humans to communicate. It’s missing the depth that physical and aural clues provide.
Add to that the evidence that humans can’t really manage more than about 50 relationships makes these global forums too much for a person to really handle.
Block away. Trim your interactions to a manageable level.
I know I am taking the wrong message from this, but online is different in basically every way. You cannot block someone in real life. You can try to avoid them, but they can still talk to you. You can put in ear buds, but that doesn’t make them not there.
Really, the solution is to spend less time on technology and more time communicating IRL. Even if it is uncomfy