Putting an End to the Blocking Game With Your Phone

When it comes to the blocking game, at some point enough is enough, and I’ve had enough.

Do I block him? Should I unblock him?

Source: E. Loberg

The blocking game is when someone decides to block you on their phone, so you decide to block them, then maybe one day you decide to unblock them to see if maybe they’ll call you, or you call them to see if you’re still blocked.

The blocking game is exhausting, annoying, confusing, mentally and emotionally taxing, and can go back and forth with no end in sight, and it is flat-out terrible.

Whether it’s someone you dated for a week, or have been in a relationship with for months, or maybe years, it can happen to anyone under any circumstances.

I was caught in this game on and off for years. I can admit it, because I know it is a widespread issue that a ton of people have fallen victim to ever since the blocking feature on our phones became available.

It all started post-break-up when my ex would randomly call me whenever he wanted, and if I called him back, I’d discover that I was blocked. That’s not fair, I thought to myself like a child, so I would block him. This went back and forth for what feels like forever, where I blocked him if he blocked me, then he would block me when I blocked him. You get it.

At some point, I started to give up on aspects of the game. I decided to just keep him unblocked, only to find out he was more than happy to contact me on his timetable, and if I got weak and decided to call him back and discover I was blocked, I would be frustrated and get down on myself. Nobody wants that.

This is a game of control, and at some point, enough is enough.

I finally made the conscious decision to put an end to the game and decided to block him indefinitely.

So what happens next?

He starts calling me from an unidentified number, aka “No Caller ID.”

You’re so smooth, so sneaky, I thought to myself, but that's not a bad idea because unidentified numbers can’t be blocked. So what am I supposed to do now?

I decided to contact Verizon to see if they had a special feature where they can track a phone calling from a designated number that is coming in as an unidentified number, and the tech guy was like, "What do you mean?" My reply might be shameful, but at this point I was desperate, and obviously had no shame, so I was willing to come clean and be honest with the guy.

“Well, I have an ex-boyfriend that is trying to call me from an unidentified number since I have his real number blocked. I just want to completely block him from my phone. Does that make sense? Is there a way to block an unidentified number?”

“Ok, I see. We don’t have that feature, but you can change your phone number.”

Oh, hell no, I thought to myself. I had to draw the line at that. That’s another kind of "enough is enough." There is no way I am going to be the one to have to change my number because he tried to outsmart me in the blocking game by calling me from an unidentified number, knowing that since it can’t be blocked, I'd be left with only one option.

I will not ever pick up a call from an unidentified number, and can only hope that if it’s another person that calls, they will leave a message so I can call them back.

End of story.

When I hung up with the Verizon guy and realized this is my end game, I thought to myself, even if I changed my number, he could always show up at my door unannounced. What am I going to do then, move?!