How to block someone on LinkedIn: A safety guide for teens

Are you looking for ways to understand how to block someone on LinkedIn? If yes you are right to be here. Whether you’re a parent or adult, understanding this would really help you a lot in effectively managing your or your teen’s professional connections.

In this guide we’ll provide a detailed step-by-step procedure of letting you block unwanted persons via desktop, or mobile app. Moreover, we’ll share some additional parenting tips to maintain a safe environment for teens.

What is LinkedIn and why are teens using it?

“LinkedIn is indeed a professional networking site specially designed for careers and business professionals to connect and showcase skills.”

It’s notable that you mainly see adults active on LinkedIn. For instnace they may use this to find jobs, make business connections and participate in online training. However, nowadays, teens are also becoming a part of this networking site. Now you might be wondering why teens join LinkedIn. We understand here are some reasons helping you clarify the purpose!

• Exploring career interests early: By joining LinkedIn teens may explore different careers and understand what jobs exist beyond school.
• Preparing for college and future goals: In addition, it helps teens learn which activities, skills or even achievement usually college value for. This supports college applications and thereby helps them secure their future.
• Finding internships and volunteer opportunities: It also lets teens find internships, part-time roles or volunteer work. This way they would not only get experience but also strengthen their resume early.
• Building a professional online presence: Using LinkedIn teens may develop a positive digital footprint. This is becasue instead of posting casual or personal content, they would highlight academic achievements, volunteer work, skills etc. Over time, this professional presence would create a lot of career opportunities for teens.
• Networking with mentors and educators: On top of that, teens may connect with teachers, alumni, career counselors and professionals who can offer guidance and motivation.

How to block someone on LinkedIn?

Although LinkedIn provides a professional networking environment, sometimes teens may receive unwanted messages. This highlights the need to block such persons to protect our teens privacy and safety. Here is the step-by-step tutorial of how you can do this via your desktop version.

• Step 1. Start by going to the profile of the individual you wish to block. You can use the search bar at the top of your LinkedIn homepage to find their profile quickly.
• Step 2. Once you’re on their profile look for the “More” button. You can find it in the top section of their profile, near their picture and connection status.

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• Step 3. After clicking ‘More’ a dropdown menu will appear. From this menu select “Report/Block.”
• Step 4. Finally a confirmation message will pop up asking you to confirm that you want to block this person. Once confirmed they will no longer be able to view your profile or interact with you on LinkedIn.

How to block someone on the LinkedIn app (iPhone & Android)?

However, if you want to block someone on LinkedIn via the mobile app, dont worry it’s a also a straightforward process. In this section, we’ll share with you a detailed procedure. It’s notable that steps would be similar for iOS & Android, with only minor differences in the interface.

• Step 1. Simply search for the profile of the user you wish to block on LinkedIn app. You can search for them using the search bar or find them in your connections list.
• Step 2. After this you’ll click the “More” icon ( in iOS) or three dots or lines (Android case), located near their profile picture.

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• Step 3. Now a drop-down menu will appear. Select “Report/Block option. Once you click a a prompt will appear asking for confirmation; tap on it to finalize the action.

What happens when you block someone on LinkedIn?

Do remember! blocking someone on LinkedIn can greatly affect your interactions/visibility with that person.

• Impact on Visibility: Once you block someone on LinkedIn, they can no longer view profile, posts, or activity. Similarly, you also lose the ability to view their profile or posts.
• Messages status: Any previous messages between you and the blocked person stay in the chat. However, you wouldn’t be able to send them new messages nor would the blocked person reply.
• Connection Status After Blocking: In addition if you are connected with the person you block, the connection will automatically get affected. For instance, they will no longer appear in your connections list, nor will you receive updates about their activities. To reconnect both parties would send and accept a new connection request.
• No notifications: It’s noteworthy that LinkedIn usually doesn’t notify individuals that they have been blocked for privacy reasons. However sometimes this may lead to confusion for them when they don’t connect.

How to unblock someone on LinkedIn?

You might block someone by mistake on LinkedIn, it doesn’t mean your connection is lost forever. There is a simple reversible process allowing you to unblock that person and restore access.

• Step 1. Click the ‘Me’ icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
• Step 2. Now a drop dwon menue will appear for there go for the ‘Settings & Privacy’ option.

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• Step 3. Click the ‘Visibility’ section from the left side menu. Just scroll down and look for the Blocked members option.

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• Step 4. From your blocked list find the person’s name and click Unblock.

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Don’t think that upon unblocking you can instantly connect with that person. Now it would be fresh start, like you again have to send an invitation and soon. Besides this, once you unblock someone and now again want to block that person, you have to wait a while like almost 48-hours. This feature indeed ensures we pause and think before making such decisions.

Is LinkedIn safe for teens?

LinkedIn is indeed a professional platform specially designed by keeping privacy of users in mind. Keep in mind that in most of the countries LinkedIn requires users to be at least 16. This is because it is more likely that they may interact with strangers, receive unsolicited messages or even career-related pressures they are not ready to handle.

It’s true that LinkedIn allows teens to control who sees their profile, posts, and connections. By adjusting all these settings, you can limit exposure to unknown users. Howevre still need to stay cautious while allowing teens to use this platform. This is because, despite safeguards, teens may still receive messages from strangers or unknown adults.

Although the blocking & reporting features are available, but teens may still encounter unsolicited connection requests. Pew Research Center conducted a survey and found that about 1 in 6 online teens have been contacted by strangers in a way that made them feel scared or uncomfortable.

That’s why to ensure your kids remain safe while using LinkedIn parents should guide teens on safe interactions and regularly review their network.

Block vs Report on LinkedIn

We have discussed previously how you can block any annoying user on LinkedIn. However, while doing so you find two options: block/report which people always remain confused about. Here is the clear comparison between blocking and reporting on LinkedIn for better understanding!

What parents can do beyond blocking?

Just blocking any stranger on LinkedIn doesn’t ensure full on security of your teens. Here are some useful recommendations to ensure the online experience of young people is a good one.

• Talk Openly: Communication is always the best approach; encourage your child to speak about their LinkedIn activities. Talk to them about their connections and about what they put out in public. When they feel free to talk they will be more than willing to share their online adventures.
• Review privacy settings: In addition it is important to make a habit of wanting to know what a child has been doing on LinkedIn. You can do this by checking their profile or what they post as well as their interactions. Adjust the privacy settings regularly as their network grows.
• Use of parental control app: For real-time control of your kids’ digital activities you have to think about installing a parental control app like FlashGet Kids. This application acts as a virtual assistant for parents allows them to control the type of content kids watch online.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, we have concluded that you can easily block someone on LinkedIn to prevent unwanted interactions. However for complete peace of mind it would be best to leverage a third-party parental control tool like FlashGet Kids. It not only keep tracks of your kids’ whereabouts but also helps you manage their screen time and restricts them from getting exposed to inappropriate content. Give it a try now!