Not childish or a punishment: Why blocking WhatsApp helps our mental health

Not having to see photographs of idyllic beaches while you are stuck in the office in July, not knowing who an ex is spending the summer with or ignoring the constant criticism that trolls unload on your favorite singer. Identify what makes you feel bad and take measures to avoid it. In a hyper-communicated world, applications and social networks are a way to stay up to date and interact, but they can also cause issues. Among them, being exposed to information, people, or ideas that are harmful to oneself. And that is where blocking comes in, a tool which allows people to filter communications and interactions and helps the user control their privacy. “Blocking is the first rule of self-respect so that others do not hurt you. Blocking is a form of self-care,” says Lara Ferreiro, a psychologist at Ashley Madison, going against the belief that some hold that blocking social networks and WhatsApp is an act of childishness.

Last year the surgeon general of the United States, Vivek Murthy, the country’s highest health authority, pointed out that although social networks can be good for some people, they also imply “a profound risk of damaging” mental health and well-being. Last June Murthy went further, and in a column published in The New York Times he proposed a measure to prevent the increase in mental health problems among younger people due to their exposure to social networks: “It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” he stated.

According to a study published in June by GfK DAM, the official measurer of digital audiences in Spain, Spanish society spends 46 minutes a day on social networks. This figure is the average, but the study reflects that it increases considerably when talking about Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012): they can invest 36 hours a month in the use of social networks compared to 10 hours and 10 minutes among the rest of the population. And on these networks is a lot of toxicity, generated by the humans who interact in them, as confirmed last March by a study published in the scientific journal Nature, which analyzed 500 million messages on different platforms over the course of 34 years. “Toxicity is a natural result of online discussions, regardless of the platform,” Walter Quattrociocchi, a professor at the University of Sapienza (Rome) and co-author of the study, told EL PAÍS.

To avoid falling into these toxic spirals, the ability to block, both on networks and in applications like WhatsApp, can be of great help, as long as it is used appropriately, experts say, because it is important not to turn the act of blocking into a weapon with which to attack others. Ferreiro explains that this happens sometimes because there are narcissistic people who block to implement “the punishment of silence.” Therefore, effective responsibility is essential to block without making the blocked person feel bad, a clear reflection of emotional immaturity. “Those who block to try to avoid conflicts see blocking as an express solution. Blocking serves to protect yourself from certain situations, but it should not be done as a punishment or as something impulsive, it must be something thoughtful and calculated. Furthermore, those who are blocked, if they are later unblocked, will have deep resentment,” she notes.

Privacy, security

For many people, performing this action is a control tool that can also function as a formula for establishing limits, allowing each person to control who has access to their personal information, publications, and updates. In this way, everyone decides who they want to interact with and who they prefer to keep away. When Elon Musk suggested last year that he was going to remove the blocking option on his social network X, the debate erupted: many users claimed their right to block, to avoid having to see certain ideas and posts. “A blocking ban violates our right to privacy. We have a right not to expose ourselves to content — and to people — on social media sites,” an article by The Prindle Institute for Ethics stressed at the time. It also pointed out that blocking could be necessary for safety, because doing so “allows users to prevent future harassment, private messages, or hate speech from another user, thus protecting their mental health.”

This is something that can be applied in different contexts, from protecting oneself against possible attacks due to ideological positions, to seeking isolation in cases of romantic breakups. A study called The Facebook Paths to Happiness reveals that maintaining virtual contact with an ex-partner could increase sexual desire for that person and make you yearn for the relationship. Amy Chan, head of Renew Breakup Bootcamp — a four-day retreat whose price can exceed $4,000 and that aims to help people get over a breakup — explains that to avoid returning to old patterns, it is vital to block the partner’s number and social profiles for at least between one and two months after the end of the relationship, as continuing to see the content of an ex-partner can obstruct the healing process and hinder recovery after separation. “Seeing the person constantly can make you feel a false sense of closeness that does not help if what is intended is to break the emotional bond. In these cases, it can be helpful to tell the other person about the need to block, so that he or she does not take it as an attack,” says psychologist and sexologist Arola Poch.

Block vs. mute

Often, the act of blocking is not something definitive, says social media consultant Sergio Magán. “It can serve as an escape valve for a while and then the situation can be reversed. We could call it ‘taking a break.’ Someone is saturated by another person or their content and to avoid personal confrontation, they silence or block them for a while, until the situation passes.” Magán considers that this is a positive technological advance with which to foster healthier relationships and to have a better experience in the digital environment that can later be transferred to the real one. “The fundamental thing is to protect our wellbeing and when needed, we should not hesitate to use these tools,” he adds.

Taking the decision to stop the flow of information or communication with others for a period of time does not have the same meaning — nor does it involve the same effort — for all generations. Fátima Martinez López, a marketing and social media consultant, points out that Generation Z is very used to blocking and that while blocking in real life is usually permanent, digital blocking can be momentary. “Being able to block is good to avoid being or feeling aggrieved. But as we have said, muting is also great, because it can generate fewer problems than blocking, since by muting the other person doesn’t find out and therefore no conflict is generated.”

Experts also insist on avoiding self-deception. Do not block and then try to see that information in other ways: it is important not to resort to fake accounts — Instagram has an estimated 95 million fake profiles, a figure that represents approximately 9.5% of the total user base — to continue observing the content that the person who has been blocked uploads to their networks, something that is more common than it might seem and that even the model Kendall Jenner has admitted to doing. “Blocking brings peace and is vital for mental health. It is essential to stop feeling guilty for blocking, as it serves to stem the emotional addiction,” stresses Ferreiro.

In many cases, turning ‘off’ is the only way to continue ‘on.’

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