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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — It’s an awkward moment that many Facebook and Instagram users have experienced at least once.

You notice that you haven’t seen any social media updates lately from a friend or family member, and when you type their name into the search magnifying glass, their name doesn’t pop up. It doesn’t take much more investigating to realize that you can’t see their profile at all.

You’ve been blocked.

Blocking is the most severe form of social media rejection. Your family member could have just unfollowed or muted you to see fewer of your posts in their feed. You’re left wondering, why did I deserve being blocked?

Time2play.com recently surveyed 2,000 people who use both Facebook and Instagram. Nearly 55% admitted to blocking a family member on Facebook, and 25.8% blocked a family member on Instagram.

The survey ranked the top eight reasons why a family member was blocked.

“There are countless reasons,” wrote Ben Treanor of time2play.com

But a few themes stood out from the survey. Facebook users who post about hateful or negative topics, especially if the post includes politics, are the most frequently blocked.

Source: Time2Play.com

Top eight reasons for blocking on Facebook:

  1. They post hateful, toxic, or problematic things
  2. Sharing fake news
  3. They post too much political content
  4. We are estranged
  5. Annoying comments on my posts
  6. I am hiding my personal life
  7. They post too much religious content
  8. They tag me in posts too often

While negative, toxic, and political posts were viewed as the most block-worthy offenses, personal problems such as estrangement also made the top eight. Over-zealous Facebook users were blocked for commenting and tagging too much.

The average age of respondents was 32 years old.

The Instagram crowd was younger than Facebook’s user base and also less prone to blocking a family member’s profile. “Instablocking” was usually the result of a user wanting to hide their own posts from a particular person.

“As for why Instagram users block their family members, we found they were motivated by concealing their own content from family members, rather than avoiding what their family members were posting. A whopping 62.1% of respondents said they had blocked a family member on Instagram to hide their personal lives,” Treanor wrote.

Source: Time2Play.com

Top eight reasons for blocking on Instagram:

  1. Hiding my personal life
  2. We are estranged
  3. Annoying comments on my posts
  4. They post hateful, toxic, or problematic things
  5. Sharing fake news
  6. They post too much political content
  7. They tag me in posts too often
  8. They post too much religious content