Abuse Using Technology

If an abuser is using technology to abuse you, it is important to document the evidence as soon as possible. This is because an abuser may be able to access the technological evidence and delete it. Even if you don’t want to take legal action now, consider whether you might later on.

It may be your instinct to keep the abuser’s actions “away” from you. For instance, you might delete threatening messages from an abuser or block the abuser if s/he is harassing you on social media. This is a completely understandable response. However, before you do this, it’s important to think through how this could affect your ability to document evidence. If you delete messages, for example, this could permanently erase your ability to access them in the future. This can create a dilemma for many survivors who don’t want to erase evidence yet don’t want to be subjected to abusive technological contact. A couple of ways to minimize having to see the abusive material can be to:

• silence message text notifications from the abuser;
• set up a folder in your email account and create a “rule” for emails from the abuser’s email address to go straight to the separate folder.

Filtering the abuser’s communications will allow you to have access to the information when you want to without constantly having to see it.