FACEBOOK BLOCKING (Or How To Completely Disappear In Facebook)
The status that was on top of my news feed when I logged on
to my Facebook account this morning was:
“You are so annoying, so you’re blocked.” Instead of just being unfriended, somebody got
blocked, which is of course worse. When someone unfriends you, you can still access
this someone’s account and see his or
her public posts and activities and you can still send this someone a message. See,
somehow, there’s still a link. When someone blocks you, this someone’s account suddenly
becomes totally inaccessible and invisible to you (and vice versa). You can
turn Facebook upside down but you won’t see any sign of this
person.
Back during pre-Facebook days, to show your annoyance to a
friend, you either yell at him or curse him, or punch him, throw stone at his
house, kick his dog, or his door or his nuts. Back during pre-Facebook days, to
stop someone from stalking and harassing you, you either call a cop or hire a lawyer
and sue.
Now, you only have to block him/her—makes sense since friendship
and stalking and harassing mostly just happen in Facebook nowadays. Facebook
blocking is certainly less violent than punching someone or throwing a stone at
his house and is less bothersome than calling a cop or hiring a lawyer—but it
sends the same strong signal: you’re utterly annoyed or harassed.
When you’re writing a story, you write “The End” to show
that it’s finished. In friendship/relationship, you click “Block” to show that
it’s finished. You can unblock of course (like you can revise and stretch a
story), but a breach has been done, a crack has been inflicted, a punch has
been swung, a stone has been thrown and a pair of nuts has been kicked. A
relationship that resurrects after the button “Block” has been clicked will not
be the same again.
Blocking is sort of like intentionally puking on somebody—it sends the signal that
this somebody is nauseating and totally unwanted. You can later on wipe the puke, but the stench
will linger.
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