One
of the great aspects of Social Media is the ability to offend people
at a deeper level and with more oomph than mere email or online
forums. In the past, using receding media technology, such as
writing on paper or the printed word, one needed a little time for
the insult to become clear. But now with the bold new technology of
Social Media and the power of the Internet we can mortally offend
someone with the click of a mouse.
And
we do, we do insult people, we insult people all the time with
Facebook.
But
since this is a totally new approach, some mechanisms may need refinement until
it settles down into a truly democratic method of punching someone in
the ego.
Such
refinement is probably necessary in the case of the Facebook method of blocking
and unblocking. As it stands now, one can block someone
without their knowledge, but also unblock them without their
knowledge as well. Blocking keeps either party from seeing anything
about each other, even to know that the other person exists on
Facebook. So far so good.
But there are issues. The first problem is that the blocked individual has to find out on their
own nickle that they have been blocked, which is always a demeaning
thing to have to do. One wonders what happened to the other person,
one searches, one does not find, then one discovers that one has been
blocked. I have noticed that by the time this happens that the
feeling is usually, but not always, mutual. In my case, the two
times I have been blocked it is because I tried to build bridges to
someone who I have damaged relationships with. In both cases their
blocking me is a rebuff.
But
you see, having been rebuffed in my effort to open communications,
that is pretty much the end of the matter from my point of view. But Facebook does not give me the ability to implement that. The other party can unblock me and see what I am doing whenever they
want, and I don't want that. I want any unblocking to be mutual, they
have to ask, and I have to agree.
Because, frankly, I really don't want to see or hear from them again.
Because, frankly, I really don't want to see or hear from them again.
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