In the past, after a relationship breakup most people really didn’t have to worry about running into their exes too often, hopefully. Unfortunately in this day and age, running into your ex can be as simple as logging on to Facebook or twitter and seeing what they’ve been up to. In fact, it can be quite tempting to continue to run into your ex through these social media forums just so we can see who’s been writing to them or what new pictures they’ve posted. Rest assured, now there’s a new way to prevent this from happening. It’s called Ex-Blocker. The Ex-Blocker is a simple browser plug that virtually erases all traces of an ex-lover’s web presence. Below is BounceBack’s interview with Alix McAlpine, Director of Marketing at JESS3 and one of the founders of Ex-Blocker.
1. How did Ex-Blocker come about—from a figment of your imagination to now becoming a growing add-on?
The Ex-Blocker was the brain child of Andrea Bartz and Brenna Ehrlich, who run the hilarious tumblr blog Stuff Hipsters Hate and write CNN’s weekly Netiquette column. Their column for the week of July 7th featured how best to deal with a relationship breakup in the digital age, and they wondered if there was a way to delete an ex altogether, not just on Facebook or Twitter. Leslie Bradshaw and I immediately loved the idea and called on some of our web geniuses at JESS3 to put together a simple, easy to use plug-in.
2. What was the general feedback from those that you explained the idea to, and how do you feel about the individuals who don’t like the idea?
Most people seemed to love the idea: it’s so difficult to exercise self control and not “spy” on an ex’s life after they are out of your life—breakups can be extremely painful, and removing their name from your sight, even if it is only online, can be a huge help to get over the first few weeks of single-dom. Of course, it’s not totally seamless, and having the plug in could potentially draw more attention to the ex by blocking his or her name, which some people have pointed out, but for the most part it’s been pretty well received.
3. Of course, the film everyone seems to tie ex-blocker to is ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.’ How do you feel about Ex-Blocker being linked to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
When Brenna Ellrich first shared her idea with us, I immediately thought about that movie as well. Anyone who has had their heart broken has wished that the movie’s memory-removal technology could be made real, but since it isn’t yet, the Ex-Blocker hopefully can help a few people by removing the constant reminder that the internet creates.
4. I actually tried Ex-Blocker and it worked very well. Are there plans to improve on the design?
We’re very happy with the way it works now but it would be nice to be able to expand to the browsers that are not currently supported.
5. Do you think it’s harder these days to get over someone in this high-tech age as compared to say the ‘90s—before texting, unlimited nights and weekends, and of course Facebook/Twitter?
100 percent yes. I remember a particularly difficult breakup I went through in late 2006, in Myspace’s heyday—I deleted my ex, re-added him, stalked endlessly, obsessively analyzed every girl’s profile that dared comment on his. It was a mess and I knew it but it was nearly impossible to stop myself. In recent months, I’ve had a few girlfriends go through huge breakups and they’ve reached out for me for assistance in controlling themselves—one close friend even gave me her Facebook log in information to change her password so she wouldn’t feel compelled to overanalyze her ex’s every status update.
