Will Instagram allow users to hide the explore/reels pages which are algorithmically designed to be addicting?
Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
131–140 of 224 posts
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#132In my view this is Instagram providing platitudes in an attempt get ahead of a growing consensus that social media is bad for people and society overall The harm inflicted by social media is infinitely more complex and sinister than a simple count of likes on posts.
I recently created a Twitter account after ignoring the platform for years. I'm pretty well known and have had several significant presences online, but I didn't try to leverage any of that and wanted to see if the network had matured to the point that it is decaying (where it is just cemented into a core).
I commented on various tweets. Left thoughtful tweets of my own on a variety of topics. Zero political tweets, but rather participated in the tech sphere including some niche realms.
Zero engagement after months. I realized later that some of my comments were hidden under "see more" for other users -- even where I added a helpful comment to a person who themselves had double-digit followers, and where there were only a tiny handful of other comments. My tweets would get hundreds of views (maybe all scrapers), but no one is going to be the first to like some comment by some tiny account with a handful of "followers". So it sits there in Pathetic Valley.
It's the curse of social networks. They get their long tail cemented in and pretty soon it's better for everyone else to wait for it to die and join something new. I deleted my twitter account and moved on. When Twitter's replacement comes along I'll get in on day one, copy some jokes some other people make and leave trite cynical comments and by month 2 I'll be a superstar.
I feel like Instagram might be taking a stab at dealing with that, rather than some concern over mental health. When everyone new faces Pathetic Valley (unless they're going to buy followers, or go on a desperate campaign outside of the platform to foment engagement), it's the inevitable decline of the platform.
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's almost as if the company that runs Instagram wants you to feel like they are truly, honestly, really, properly interested in losing the core of their business for the sake of your own mental health and the psychological wellbeing of society in general
TikTok just makes up the view counts. So everyone feels like they're growing an audience. Instagram could do the same. They probably will. It would probably both increase engagement and, would it be bad for mental health? Anyway, I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts 5 years ago.
Where is your source that TikTok makes up the view counts. As a developer myself, their interest graph is second to none. It has by far the best recommendation algorithm in the social media space to date. Of course they are doing it with all the data they collect, but it doesn't bother me because it shows me endless amounts of the type of content I want to see, which is not half-naked dancing teens, but lots of political commentary and real life stories.
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're not forced to subsidize it. If you don't watch live TV or iPlayer you don't have to pay. They'll send you threatening letters every 2 years or so saying they're going to come round your house but you just have to go on the website again and tell them you still don't watch live TV.
Why is that even necessary? Essentially you’re guilty until you declare yourself innocent, and you need to prove innocence if the Beeb’s minions turn up at your house? What if you didn’t realize you needed the license because the rules around live broadcasts and battery-powered devices are so absurd? People get sent to jail over this ridiculous situation while the government cheers from the sidelines.
Yeah it's extremely messed up and BBC likes to pretend it's not really responsible for it by hiding it under the guise of a "TV Licencing" body to distance itself [1]. I used to be pro-national broadcasting but honestly the quality of shows they produce has dropped so dramatically and how biased their news coverage has become I refuse to ever pay for it again.
[1] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#135Even 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…
Reminds me a bit of Tinder Gold "hide my age" feature. Everyone has their age shown unless you pay extra to hide it, so hiding almost always will look worse than your actual age.
I just set an absurdly older age, while keeping my age filter the same. The 23 year olds actually looking for that can be amused and interested.
But since I said something now I guess I’ll have to pivot to something else.
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#136This wont change anything.
Social media has made the entirety of humanity aware that civilization has been built on its entirety by a discriminatory principle, in all aspects, and all of them can be traced back to a genetic discrimination.
When this is positioned against humans attempt at transcending nature (with laws, politics and science) it becomes a matter of choice.
At the degree that our species is able to choose their sexual partners, the genetic "gap" of what we deem attractive will accelerate the same way dog breeds had been "evolving" since it became popular to breed them, which is just a couple hundred years.
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#137Now we just need Spotify to hide play counts... These have a terrible effect on artists.
Yes, and also need to hide the speedometer in cars because my mother-in-law drives incredibly slowly and being a passenger has a negative effect on my mental health. We also need to abolish the "top apps" features in the various app stores because my apps didn't sell well and it had a terrible effect on me. We also need to ensure that everyone in the Formula 1 finishes at the same time, holding hands, because the "lo…
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Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 “th…
I found myself fantasizing about social media digicide, so I went for it. Totally worth it. You’ll know when you’re ready for it. I do miss keeping in touch with some older friends via my FB account. There is certainly a cost.
You can have a "Messenger-only" FB account, which would allow you to keep in touch with said friends.
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#139It requires a very high amount of naiveness to think this could solve the issue. Only thing that will help is education of children, so that they understand their place in the world, to accept themselves, that the aesthetic standards provided in social networks are very high (but yet, as a central European my sensibility is a bit different than the one in other places -- I would suggest that this must be a stimulus t…
I wonder if that education should also explicitly include how likes, ads and attention are correlated. Making them understand their place in the world is good but SM is a different take on that age-old problem.
Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt that the only thing that will help is education. Education cannot win over something where other, more educated people are putting full-time careers in psychological hijacking of children. A 12 year old doesn't stand a chance no matter how much they accept themselves. This stuff needs to be regulated like cigarettes.
I don't agree because the contact with real teenagers at school and other places where children meet was as brutal as it is today even in the past. Now there are new elements, that is, the fact you have to confront yourself with a lager audience of people and you can see unreal standards. But even at school with 400 children there will be the extremely pretty, the extremely good at sports, and so forth. And what is l…
School bullying is bad, but scaling it up to global bullying is worse.