Being an avid Instagram user, have you ever wished to get more likes on your photo? While the answer would most probably be a hesitant ‘yes’, we all have been obsessed about the likes to a point that we know even follow the right time to post the picture on Instagram or even delete it when you don’t get likes in an impressive amount right within the first hour. But that is where things are actually wrong for your mental well-being.
People have gradually started to care about the likes on their Instagram post a bit too much and that is also giving birth to unnecessary stress that Instagram never wanted to promote among its users. So, taking the matter into its own hands, Instagram has announced to hide the number of likes for users across Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. The company is using this move as a test to minimize the impact of perfect Instagram posts on users - which led to dangerous repercussions like more pressure on people regarding the validation of a post by friends and the ever increasing negative body image that was shattering the confidence of people.
The number of likes that you get on Instagram have actually started to make people more popular in real life as well. They feel good about themselves right within a few minutes as they get the validation from their followers right away about things they wear or stuff they do. Hence, if we go by the human nature, the more confident you are, the better you would be. But when people don’t get the likes, that is where the trouble begins. Based on the number of likes and opinion from the virtual world, people start to think small about themselves.
In response to this ever growing concern, Instagram decided to hide the total number of likes on photos and videos on the main feed, profiles and permalink pages. The owner of the account can still see the likes on his own photo but when checking out the posts of others, you will only get the name of someone you follow, who has liked the post “and others” as a replacement to number of likes. Users can still click on “others” to see who else have liked the photo but Instagram won’t show an exact number to that.
As this trick has generally been perceived well, a 27-year-old freelance photographer - Chris Grundy from Sydney Australia expressed her views about the change in a much better way by stating:
"It got to a stage where people didn't appreciate a photo for the content they saw. It was more about this person has 5,000 likes and judging a photo based on that ... and people were comparing themselves to others, which has led to a lot of mental health issues,"
However a strong argument to this came in by Sasha Fekula, an American currently living in Sydney, Australia, as she said that people are always still going to be more concerned about how many likes do they get - as Instagram still allows them to count it by going to the likes section themselves.
Randi Priluck, a professor and associate dean at Pace University focused on social media and mobile marketing, expressed the similar concern by telling that it can be great for teenagers where they won’t check out their level of popularity among other kids. However, the likes that they would be able to see is the actual reason of them being driven by rewards and feel neglected. It might encourage people to go for more authentic content instead of what will be liked, but the problem of validation would still remain the same.
Another user also admitted that the move hasn’t really affected the way she posts on Instagram. Erin Good shared.
"Especially living in New Zealand, I know if I post at 8 p.m. [my time], everyone back home is asleep, so I'm not going to post. I don't think I'll change that now that the likes are hidden. I think it's more about wanting people to see what I'm up to."
Instagram is waiting for more detailed results of this test before they roll out the change to other countries. Apart from that the company has also planned to tackle bullying this year with advanced features that would warn the user about their comments being offensive before they post it.
Even the action against bullying was also taken right after Niamh Quirke, a 26-year-old Instagram user who recently moved to New York from Ireland, shared her opinion about the process.
She told that hiding likes won’t mean hiding comments. Words can do more damage than likes and especially in a society where people are more about hate than love.
All in all, it’s good to see Instagram acknowledging what’s important for platform and mental peace of its users.
Read next: Instagram is expected to be a platform full of advertisements and no one is questioning it at all
Hat Tip: CNN.
People have gradually started to care about the likes on their Instagram post a bit too much and that is also giving birth to unnecessary stress that Instagram never wanted to promote among its users. So, taking the matter into its own hands, Instagram has announced to hide the number of likes for users across Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. The company is using this move as a test to minimize the impact of perfect Instagram posts on users - which led to dangerous repercussions like more pressure on people regarding the validation of a post by friends and the ever increasing negative body image that was shattering the confidence of people.
The number of likes that you get on Instagram have actually started to make people more popular in real life as well. They feel good about themselves right within a few minutes as they get the validation from their followers right away about things they wear or stuff they do. Hence, if we go by the human nature, the more confident you are, the better you would be. But when people don’t get the likes, that is where the trouble begins. Based on the number of likes and opinion from the virtual world, people start to think small about themselves.
In response to this ever growing concern, Instagram decided to hide the total number of likes on photos and videos on the main feed, profiles and permalink pages. The owner of the account can still see the likes on his own photo but when checking out the posts of others, you will only get the name of someone you follow, who has liked the post “and others” as a replacement to number of likes. Users can still click on “others” to see who else have liked the photo but Instagram won’t show an exact number to that.
As this trick has generally been perceived well, a 27-year-old freelance photographer - Chris Grundy from Sydney Australia expressed her views about the change in a much better way by stating:
"It got to a stage where people didn't appreciate a photo for the content they saw. It was more about this person has 5,000 likes and judging a photo based on that ... and people were comparing themselves to others, which has led to a lot of mental health issues,"
However a strong argument to this came in by Sasha Fekula, an American currently living in Sydney, Australia, as she said that people are always still going to be more concerned about how many likes do they get - as Instagram still allows them to count it by going to the likes section themselves.
Randi Priluck, a professor and associate dean at Pace University focused on social media and mobile marketing, expressed the similar concern by telling that it can be great for teenagers where they won’t check out their level of popularity among other kids. However, the likes that they would be able to see is the actual reason of them being driven by rewards and feel neglected. It might encourage people to go for more authentic content instead of what will be liked, but the problem of validation would still remain the same.
Another user also admitted that the move hasn’t really affected the way she posts on Instagram. Erin Good shared.
"Especially living in New Zealand, I know if I post at 8 p.m. [my time], everyone back home is asleep, so I'm not going to post. I don't think I'll change that now that the likes are hidden. I think it's more about wanting people to see what I'm up to."
Instagram is waiting for more detailed results of this test before they roll out the change to other countries. Apart from that the company has also planned to tackle bullying this year with advanced features that would warn the user about their comments being offensive before they post it.
Even the action against bullying was also taken right after Niamh Quirke, a 26-year-old Instagram user who recently moved to New York from Ireland, shared her opinion about the process.
She told that hiding likes won’t mean hiding comments. Words can do more damage than likes and especially in a society where people are more about hate than love.
All in all, it’s good to see Instagram acknowledging what’s important for platform and mental peace of its users.
Read next: Instagram is expected to be a platform full of advertisements and no one is questioning it at all
Hat Tip: CNN.
