It’s Not Punishment or Childish: Why Blocking on WhatsApp Helps Our Mental Health | Wellbeing | S Fashion

No need to look at pictures of idyllic beaches while you’re spending July at the office, not know who your ex is spending the summer with, or ignore people’s constant criticism. trolls your favorite singer. Identify what makes you feel bad and take steps to avoid it. In a hyper-connected world, apps and social media are a way to stay informed and connected, but they can also cause problems. These include exposure to information, people, or ideas that are harmful to a person. This is where a blocking tool comes in, allowing you to filter messages, interactions, and help the user control their privacy. “Blocking is the first rule of self-respect, so you don’t get hurt. Blocking is a form of self-care,” says Lara Ferreiro, a psychologist at Ashley Madison, dispelling the idea that blocking both social media and WhatsApp is childish.

This was the warning issued last year by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the nation’s top health authority, who noted that while social media may be helpful for some people, it also carries a “serious risk of harm” to mental health and well-being. Murthy went further in a forum published in June last year New York Times proposed a measure to prevent the rise in mental health problems among young people due to networks: “It is time to demand that the Surgeon General issue warnings on social media platforms, indicating that their use is associated with significant harm to the mental health of adolescents.”

According to a study published in June by GfK DAM, the official digital audience measurer in Spain, Spanish society spends 46 minutes a day on social networks. This figure is average, but the study shows that this figure increases significantly when it comes to the youngest generation Z (born between 1994 and 2010): they can spend 36 hours a month using social networks, compared to 10 hours with 10 minutes of rest. And these networks are full of toxicity generated by the people who interact with them, as confirmed last March by a new study published in a scientific journal. Nature, who analyzed 500 million messages across platforms over 34 years. “Toxicity is a natural outcome of discussions Online“regardless of the platform,” said Walter Quattrociocchi, a professor at Sapienza University of Rome and co-author of the study. A country.

According to experts, to avoid falling into these toxic spirals, the ability to block both on social media and in apps like WhatsApp can be very useful if used correctly. Because it is important not to turn blocking into a weapon to attack others. Psychologist Lara Ferreiro explains that sometimes this happens because there are narcissistic people who prevent the implementation of the “punishment of silence”. Therefore, effective accountability is needed to block without making the blocked person feel bad, which is a clear reflection of emotional immaturity. “Those who block to avoid conflicts see blocking as a quick fix. Blocking serves to protect against certain situations, but it should not be done as a punishment or as something impulsive, as it should be something thought out and calculated. Moreover, those who have been blocked, if they are later unblocked, will experience deep resentment,” he adds.

Privacy, security

For many people, this action is a tool of control that can also function as a formula for setting limits, allowing each person to control access to their personal information, posts, and updates. In this way, each person decides who they want to interact with and who they prefer to stay away from. When Elon Musk suggested last year that he was going to remove the blocking option on his social network X, a debate erupted, with many users claiming their right to block in order not to see certain ideas and messages. “Banning the blocking option violates the right to privacy, since we have the right not to be exposed to content and people on social media,” the Prindle Institute of Ethics emphasized in an article at the time. It also emphasized that blocking can be “necessary for safety purposes, since blocking some users to prevent future incidents of harassment or hate helps mental health.”

This is something that can be applied in a variety of contexts, from protecting oneself from possible attacks based on ideological positions to the desire to remain isolated in cases of romantic breakups. Facebook: Paths to Happiness shows that maintaining virtual contact with an ex-partner can increase sexual desire for that person and make them miss the relationship, and Amy Chan, head of Renew Breakup Bootcamp – a four-day retreat that can cost upwards of €4,000 to help you get over a breakup – explains that to avoid falling back into old patterns, it is essential to block your partner’s number and social profiles for at least one to two months after the breakup, as continuing to view your ex’s content can hinder the healing process and make it more difficult to recover from the breakup. “Seeing that person all the time can give you a false sense of closeness, which is not helpful if you want to break the emotional bond. In these cases, it may be helpful to tell the other person to block you so that they don’t perceive it as an attack,” adds psychologist and sexologist Arola Poch.

Block vs. Mute

“In many cases, blocking is not a permanent thing,” says Sergio Magan, a social media consultant. “It can serve as an escape valve for a while, and then turn the tide. We could call it a ‘timeout.’ Someone is overwhelmed by another person or their content, and to avoid a personal confrontation, they silence or block them for a while until the situation passes,” he says. Consider it a positive technological advancement that will help foster healthier relationships and better experiences in the digital environment that can later be transferred to the real world. “The main thing is to protect our well-being, and if necessary, we should not hesitate to use these tools,” he says.

Making the decision to stop the flow of information or communication with others for a while does not have the same meaning or require the same effort for all generations. Fatima Martinez Lopez, a consultant specializing in marketing and social media, points out that Generation Z is very used to being blocked and that while a real-life block is usually permanent, a digital block can be short-lived. “The ability to block is useful to avoid being attacked or feeling attacked. But as we have already said, silencing is also healthy because it can create fewer problems than blocking, since by silencing, the other person does not know and therefore there is no conflict,” he says.

Experts also insist on avoiding self-deception. Don’t block and then try to see this information in other ways: it’s important not to resort to fake accounts (Instagram is estimated to have 95 million fake profiles, which is about 9.5% of its total user base) to continue monitoring the content that the blocked person uploads to their networks, which is more common than it might seem and which even the model Kendall Jenner has admitted. “Blocking brings peace and is vital for mental health. It’s important to stop feeling guilty about blocking, as this helps stop emotional addiction,” stresses psychologist Lara Ferreiro.

In many cases, shutting down is the only way to continue working.