why does it say my notifications are silenced

The message "notifications are silenced" means that the person you're messaging has enabled a Focus mode like Do Not Disturb on their iPhone, which silences notifications. This message appears to let you know they won't receive alerts for new messages at that time. It does not mean you are blocked; rather, it's a feature called Focus Status that informs contacts about silenced notifications. This can be due to modes for focusing, meetings, sleeping, or other reasons to minimize interruptions. The notification status will go away once the person disables their Focus mode. This applies primarily to iMessage users on Apple devices where Focus settings can be shared across devices signed into the same Apple ID.