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Why is blocking so common nowadays? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by lennybird@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

107 comments fedilink hide all child comments

There may be an age or generational explanation for this, but I especially notice this behavior on Reddit while not nearly as much here on Lemmy (though maybe that's also a mater of implementation).

It seems many are so quick to assert overly-confident positions, but then hit-and-run with some smarmy remark at even the slightest challenge, then quickly block. Like, not even crazy stuff. Just basic, civil disagreements. I can pretty well predict when it will happen, and it always feels like such a petty ego-sparing fingers-in-ears denial thing to do, and to me if anything shows they were not very confident in their views being challenged.

I think I've only blocked a handful of people over a decade who were actively spamming, stalking, or spewing extremely hateful rhetoric and I just reported them simultaneously. You have to cross a pretty extreme and irrational line for me to do that.

The reason I ask is to see if I'm missing something; to better understand the mindset of those who do.

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[–] FishFace@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

I think there is a difference between different people - and maybe it has changed generationally too. I can think of some obvious potential reasons though:

the number of people who are being horrible is increasing. The increasing division in society is reflected online. That means people have more reason to block people.
the proliferation of social media bubbles makes people less used to encountering opinions that differ significantly from their own.

I usually find myself blocked by people who just disagree with me. I (increasingly) rarely lose my rag online, but people find it annoying to have someone reply to them who disagrees on certain things and who doesn't just shut up and go away quickly.

I have a pretty high tolerance for that kind of irritation but after a few dozen replies back and forth I'll also use the block button. It's less about not seeing their posts in the future, more as a way to force myself to disengage and get annoyed again.