For those of you who haven’t seen this announcement, tumblr recently made some changes to the iOS version of the app, purportedly to comply with Apple’s content guidelines. These changes took effect on Dec 21, starting in version 22.5.1 of the iOS app. As some of you may recall, Apple’s strict guidelines were the driving force for the infamous Great Purge of 2018, which coincidentally also happened around this time of year, but it seems banning all of the female-presenting nipples wasn’t good enough for Apple.

Below is a summary of the important changes. Note that these changes technically ONLY affect those using the iOS app. If you’re accessing tumblr through a different app or operating system (Google Chrome, Android app, etc) it won’t affect you directly but it will affect your followers who use iOS so you should definitely be aware of it.

The list of banned tags has been expanded. As before, there’s no way to know which words or phrases have been banned until you try searching for them, in which case you’ll either get no search results or the following message: “This content has been hidden because of potentially suggestive or explicit content.” You may think this doesn’t concern you if you don’t post explicit material, but do not make the mistake of expecting the banned tags to be logical or reasonable. I’ve already encountered multiple completely innocuous posts (random fandom gifsets) that seem to be hidden on iOS for no discernible reason.

Blogs that have been flagged as explicit can no longer be viewed. Previously, flagged blogs just had their posts hidden from searches, but if you knew the username you could still visit it after clicking through a warning about sensitive content. Now you can’t access it at all.

Likes and reblogs from blogs that have been flagged will no longer show up in your notes. This one won’t affect most people’s user experience as much as the others, but it does mean you may be missing notes. It’s unclear if likes and reblogs from flagged blogs will still count towards the overall note total (and only be missing from the activity feed and note viewer) but I suspect that’s the case.

THE BIG ONE: ANY POST TAGGED WITH A BANNED TAG WILL NO LONGER SHOW UP ON YOUR DASHBOARD. Previously, if you tagged a post with a banned word or phrase (even if the words were used inside another tag), that post would not show up in searches, but your followers would still be able to see it on their dashboard. Now those posts are hidden from your own followers as well. This includes both original posts and reblogs. And if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s the real kicker: even if you don’t tag something with one of the banned words, if the OP used a banned tag, any reblogs of that post will not show up on anyone’s dashboard (on the iOS app). The only saving grace here, and I hate to even call it that, is that the blocked posts are still visible if you visit a blog directly or if you have post notifications turned on.

As usual, tumblr was extremely unclear and evasive about all of this in their official announcement. Not surprising, of course, since if more people were aware of these new draconian tactics I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be more of an uproar about it. Tumblr claims that these changes are somewhat temporary and that they are currently working on something that will allow for a less restricted iOS experience, but they refuse to say what that something is and when it will be implemented. And let’s just say, considering their track record, I’m not hopeful.

All of this is horrible and infuriating for many reasons, but the worst part is how insanely counterproductive it is to creating the “safe” environment tumblr (or more specifically Apple) supposedly wants.

Tags have always been used for both blog organization and filtering purposes. Tagging posts with triggers and content warnings is a common practice that gives users the ability to filter out content they may find upsetting or just don’t don’t want to see for whatever reason. By choosing to ban a bunch of unlisted “sensitive content” tags, all they’re doing is encouraging people who want to share that kind of content to come up with alternative less well-known tags or simply not tag that content at all anymore if they want it to show up on their follower’s dashboards, thereby making it more likely for someone to encounter it when they didn’t want to.

Example let’s say you have a goal to make 5k but now you told someone you would give them 5k in a week. Now you’re stressed pressured and don’t know where to start. Vs giving yourself that 5k goal and figuring out how you’re going to accomplish it without the pressure.

i almost threw up

i had to block him

ladies if you live with a man and pay rent

hes not your boyfriend/husband/etc

There is so much truth to this. Before starting my level up journey I was definitely “miss independent I don’t need any help from anyone, let alone a man.” It really took me hitting rock bottom to become a receiving woman. I’d always let men pay for dates and travel expenses but I could never imagine letting a man take care of me in ways that let them fulfill their masculinity the most. The pandemic left me broke and no other choice but to let the men in my life take care of me, including my father(he always offered many things, and I always declined thinking that I should do everything on my own). Being broke forced me to let myself be taken care of for the first time and ask for the simplest things I would never have asked before. I learned that men cannot read our minds like we wish they would so it’s up to us women to consistently ask for what we want and need with confidence. Some times we will get a “no” and that’s OK. I think the main reason I never asked for the simplest things before was because of my fear to get rejected so I wanted to have my own back. But so what if you get a “no?” Seriously, what’s the worst that can happen? Nothing bad will happen and if I’m being perfectly honest a different man will swoop in and take care of it because like that famous saying goes “what one man won’t do, another man will.”😉 So don’t be afraid to ask for the things you deserve, especially if you’re committed to the man. Tune into your femininity and let him be the masculine man he was born to be!

When I watch content focused on health, beauty, fitness, studying, finances, cooking and productivity, I feel better. I perform in life better. I feel happier and more well-rounded. When I hang out with my sister and she wants to watch real housewives and stuff like that, I don’t feel as good. After a while, you start to find yourself mimicking the people you watch. You use their language, you copy their body movements. Be careful with what you are consuming. We never notice what habits are being formed until they are firmly in place.

If all of your favorite media is, like brunettebarbiedoll said, low vibrational, gross, damaging, violent and vulgar....what does that say about you?

What accounts are you following on IG? Do you only follow blonde white IG models when you’re a tan brunette? Are you surprised that your self esteem is low?

Do you spend hours on TikTok? Are you surprised that you feel like you have no interesting hobbies/ personality/ interests?

Are you on Stan Twitter? Are you surprised that you’re always aggressive/ take small unrelated things personally/ have little to no or toxic friends?

What do you watch on Netflix? I started Criminal Minds 2 months ago and I felt depressed, paranoid and like a victim constantly. Ever since I stopped watching, my life has picked up again. Which sucks because I genuinely enjoyed the show, but the cost of my mental health (I’m a very empathetic person) isn’t worth it.

Your subconscious is always picking up on things. Don’t risk it.