Study finds more than half of Facebook users have blocked a family member

Family members draw lines in the social media sand according to a recent study on online behaviors.

A recent study performed by Ben Treanor, digital public relations strategist at Time2play, found 54.8% of Facebook users have blocked a family member on the social media platform because of their posts.

The study included responses from 2,040 individuals in the United States and was conducted using the online survey program Prolific. The most common reasons for a family member blocking another from Facebook included posting hateful, toxic or problematic things (46.4%), sharing what they consider fake news (43.5%) or the individual posts too much political content (41.4%). Treanor said the practice of blocking has become a cultural norm.

"I kind of got the idea just based on the theme I have seen in my own personal current circles," Treanor said. "If someone posts something that you don't fully agree with, they seem like some people are even willing to cut them out of their life. The younger crowd tends not to tolerate the fake news and hate speech."

Facebook, which is owned by Meta, uses a third-party fact-checking program to monitor, review and rate "the accuracy of stories through original reporting, which may include interviewing primary sources, consulting public data and conducting analyses of media," according to the Meta Journalism Project. Treanor said the social media website's fact-checking system is "basically nonexistent"

"I think it is contributing to the kind of downfall of our society. The fact that we post stories that have no basis in fact and can become so widespread," he said.

More than a quarter of Instagram users -- 25.8% -- said they have blocked a family member on the social media platform, also owned by Meta. The most popular reasons for blocking on Instagram include hiding one's personal life (62.1%), feeling estranged (33.8%) and annoying comments on a user's posts (21.1%). Treanor said he believes there is a higher percentage of users on Facebook who have blocked a family member because of a larger population of older users on Facebook than Instagram. Children see more posts by their parents, grandparents and older relatives.

Treanor said he would like to perform the study again after the 2024 presidential election.

"I feel like all of this kind of started around the time [President Donald] Trump started giving us his politics. I am interested to see how that progresses depending on the results of the next election," Treanor said.

For more information on the survey, visit the Time2play website at www.time2play.com/blog/blocking-family-on-social-media/.