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Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

bbc.com

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Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#21

Post by dragonwriter »

coldtea wrote: post #13
dragonwriter wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned. But...that’s how older generations have always responded to what younger people do for social approval, and older people interpreting what they see that way as a precipitous decl…

> But...that’s how older generations have always responded to what younger people do for social approval That's a combination of (a) a relatively modern myth ("It was always that way"), (b) a cherry-picking from millenia for instances where that did happen (which wasn't "always" - many periods, even for centuries on end, had almost no change between generations regarding lifestyles. For some rural places that was eve…

> many periods, even for centuries on end, had almost no change between generations regarding lifestyles

Many of the instances where we have records of this being a recurring complaint of adults toward the youth were in those times of little apparent lifestyle change; part of that ia that the distance of our perspective probably minimizes changes that were perceived as significant in the local context, but a bigger part is that, while objective changes in lifestyle or technology can provide something to tie the complaint to, the main driver of the complaint is not the change in society but the change in the observer’s position and perspective within society.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#22

Post by david_allison »

papito wrote: post #14

What I really need is a way to lock myself out of the account, especially Twitter, without suspending it. Like, disable the login for a day, but I am still on the platform. The electric fences I put up myself never work.

Sounds similar to the concept of 'self-exclusion' in the UK gambling industry:

https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/for-the-public/Safer-g...

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#23

Post by gzimhelshani »

papito wrote: post #14

What I really need is a way to lock myself out of the account, especially Twitter, without suspending it. Like, disable the login for a day, but I am still on the platform. The electric fences I put up myself never work.

I want this for League of Legends. Disable my account for 2 days, one week, one month etc. I don't want to lose the progress I made in the game by deleting the account completely but I also want to focus on my finals for a while.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#24

Post by Tenoke »

headmelted wrote: post #19

Or.. and hear me out here.. Just close your account completely? We’ve seen a great many of the people that built these systems come forward to explain that not only do they regret their role but that the harm being caused is worse than most people believe. I’ve also not seen or heard anyone (even people that currently work there) argue that these networks are in any way a net positive for society or the vast majority…

As a counterpoint I use Instagram maybe 2 hours a week total and get some minor value at little cost. I dont really see a benefit in closing my account.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#25

Post by have_faith »

coddle-hark wrote: post #6
martin_a wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be some kind of mistake, yes. Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned.

Young people have pretty much always optimised for the recognition and appreciation of their friends though. It’s just more visible to adults now, which is probably a good thing.

The big difference is opportunity time. Previously you had occasional opportunities to impress your peers and evaluate their lives against yours giving you gaps to work between. Those gaps now no longer exist. The information and comparison is 24/7 and real time. I think comparisons to previous generations as being equal in goals vastly over simplifies vast differences in the landscape they operate in.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#26

Post by dewey »

totaldex wrote: post #10

Even with positive intentions, I'm not convinced this will solve the problem in any meaningful way. Turning off likes might be perceived as someone being unhappy with their social media status relative to their peers (ie, not getting as many 'likes' as their friends), which signals its own stigma. Users will be forced into a new dilemma: Enable likes and accept the 'social media pressure', or announce to everyone tha…

> Users will be forced into a new dilemma: Enable likes and accept the 'social media pressure', or announce to everyone that they harbor some sort of insecurity about their social media status by turning them off.

Isn't that just for your own view? Others will still see the likes I'm assuming?

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#27

Post by kuu »

deergomoo wrote: post #20

Instagram can actually be a nice place, if used as a platform to look at cool pictures and not at all as a social network. I never added any friends or family, I just follow accounts and topics I'm interested in. So my feed is almost entirely pixel art, cool architecture, and retro console mods, and it's very pleasant. Considering they're Facebook-owned, I see surprisingly little effort to cram low-effort garbage dow…

> The only real issue I've had is that a weirdly large number of people seem to tag their family photos with the #architecture hashtag.

Because for most people hasthags are a way of getting people to view their picture than to label the content

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#28

Post by moksly »

headmelted wrote: post #19

Or.. and hear me out here.. Just close your account completely? We’ve seen a great many of the people that built these systems come forward to explain that not only do they regret their role but that the harm being caused is worse than most people believe. I’ve also not seen or heard anyone (even people that currently work there) argue that these networks are in any way a net positive for society or the vast majority…

I get a lot of positive experiences an connections out of both Instagram and Facebook. I use them solely for hobby purposes though.

I’m part or the largest Danish Blood Bowl 2 league and it’s all organised through Facebook. So is almost all our table top tournaments, and it’s really an wonderful community, even when you branch out into the warhammer general community in Denmark. I use Instagram solely for painting miniatures, finding inspiration, sharing experiences and connecting with other people to learn from or teach them tips and tricks.

This is all very anecdotal of course, but I think SoMe is just what you use it for. I share your worry, but I wonder if we’d get rid of the pressurised competitive society without the platforms, or they just made that part of modern western society very easy to share.

I do wonder why people post pictures of themselves, or why people look at them. I get that there are a lot of beautiful people on platforms like Instagram, but there are so many that you sort of expect them to drown each other out. I don’t get it at least, but for hobby and creative purposes, I do think these platforms are kind of great.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#29

Post by headmelted »

papito wrote: post #14

What I really need is a way to lock myself out of the account, especially Twitter, without suspending it. Like, disable the login for a day, but I am still on the platform. The electric fences I put up myself never work.

This is all anecdotal but I committed social media digicide a short while ago because I didn’t like how it was affecting my life.

Constantly checking for likes, feeling an urge to participate in conversations to feel like “an important voice”. I got to the point where it wasn’t just directly affecting me but also the amount of attention I was giving my kids had dropped enough that I was mad at myself for becoming “that dad”.

I made sure the github stayed live (with some pointers towards currently supported alternatives) so that anyone relying on that (now redundant) work wouldn’t be left high and dry - other than that I just quietly took my online presence down.

I feel like I’ve lost nothing and have been much happier since.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#30

Post by totaldex »

dewey wrote: post #26
totaldex wrote: post #10

Even with positive intentions, I'm not convinced this will solve the problem in any meaningful way. Turning off likes might be perceived as someone being unhappy with their social media status relative to their peers (ie, not getting as many 'likes' as their friends), which signals its own stigma. Users will be forced into a new dilemma: Enable likes and accept the 'social media pressure', or announce to everyone tha…

> Users will be forced into a new dilemma: Enable likes and accept the 'social media pressure', or announce to everyone that they harbor some sort of insecurity about their social media status by turning them off. Isn't that just for your own view? Others will still see the likes I'm assuming?

It appears that this setting controls cross-account like visibility on posts:

"Even if a user has Like Counts enabled, they will not be able to see the number of likes on accounts or posts that have hidden them."

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