Is This The Beginning Of A Like-Less Instagram?

By Lauren Rearick


Showing your Instagram affection through a double-tap could soon be a thing of the past.


In recent weeks, Instagram has been testing out a version of its app that hid a photo’s total variety of likes, CNNreports. Users were still have the ability to view their own likes and intelligence on any photographs they had posted, however those numbers were kept private once viewing pictures posted by companions, celebrities, or anyone else on the platform. The tweaked Insta experience debuted in Canada at the starting of May, and users were notified of the change through a message displayed within Instagram, according to HuffPost.


The move comes following continued criticism about Instagram and its parent agency, Facebook, for the impact the services have on users's day-to-day lives. Of the shift, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg mentioned on April 30 that the agency believes "The future is private," and will be rolling out changes during its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.


Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, told Buzzfeed News the change was about “creating a far less pressurized environment where people feel comfortable expressing themselves.” He mentioned that users have expressed concern that they aren’t collecting enough likes.


Nevertheless Instagram likes aren’t the only measure of success in the world, social media platforms remain frequent subjects of focus for professionals exploring potential negative impacts on mental health. Research, including one conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and another from UK's Royal Society for Public Health and the Young Health Movement noticed that Instagram usage can have a detrimental affect on one’s mental health.


Users that limited their time on the platform announced feeling far less depressed and lonely, the University of Pennsylvania discovered. Moreover, the platform’s “image-focused” feed led to feelings of “inadequacy and anxiety” among the 1,500 teens surveyed for the UK's Royal Society for Public Health and the Young Health Movement’s study. (Some Instagram users do operate their online presence as a means of encouraging others, however their effect on a user’s in general platform experience is harder to quantify.)


Social media usage will not necessarily have a negative impact on all users, Ana Radovic, MD, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, told MTV News. Nevertheless, those predisposed to feelings of low self-esteem may find that Instagram likes do serve as “another currency of self-comparison,” and by hiding these likes, folks are essentially able to “filter out the negative and enhance the positive.”


“If they don't receive likes, they have nothing to fall back on in terms of their own feelings of self-worth,” she mentioned. “Specifically any time someone has high concerns about their body image, and then the social comparison deals with appearance and may cause them to feel more negatively about their body image.”


Ultimately, Dr. Radovic suggests remaining thoughtful of how you’re using social media, and why much time you’re spending on those platforms. In the event you do start to realize that certain applications are having a negative impact on your self-esteem or mental health, she suggests talking about that with your healthcare provider.


“Keep an emotional pulse,” she mentioned. “Think about how you are feeling while you are using social media. Think about what you did, and how did it make you feel better or worse.” She also suggests initial a new account where you only follow stimulating posters or imagine unfollowing accounts that make you feel worse.


so far, those on Instagram, including Kylie Jenner and her record-breaking egg rival, don’t have to worry about any of their likes disappearing. Mosseri didn’t confirm that private likes would one day roll out to each person, although he did tell Buzzfeed News that it wasn’t “off the table.”