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Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

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

#141

This 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 cho…

The division most significant to Instagram is social class, not “discrimination.”

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

#142
It’s definitely a progress for Instagram but probably a little one if the algorithm sorting is not changed.

For those who may need, there have been browser addons for Twitter and Facebook to do the same. [1]

Also worth noting Mastodon has this demetricator feature built in since quite a while ago.

[1] https://github.com/bengrosser

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

#143

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…

OTOH, now that disabling likes is an option, we can form a cultural norm that enabling likes on your post is a shame-worthy, petty, insecure, attention-seeking behavior.

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

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a social media user, but I'm actually considering to start using Instagram with this feature. Disabling likes doesn't show that I harbor insecurity, it simply removes the 'rat race' feeling that I have with social media. (which was the reason why I stopped using it a couple years ago).

I use Instagram but I don’t bother checking like counts or the list of who liked a post. You have to go out of your way to look for this information anyway. I suppose disabling the feature could help those who can’t resist the impulse to check and who get upset if they don’t see the expected number of likes. It’s more of a forced self-control option. I have known people who struggle with phone and social media addict…

It's a little weird to blame the users in the same post that explains how the app is designed to distract you from the healthy usage you advocate.

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

#145
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.

The app stay focused on Android is great for this. It blocks opening apps or websites based on a schedule. Really helped kill my endless scroll habit. I found I do the empty fridge thing with these apps. I'm sure there's others on ios too

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

#146
post #141

This 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 cho…

The division most significant to Instagram is social class, not “discrimination.”

I am using the word discrimination in a general sense.

It's not *just* the color or race of someone's skin, but also a lot other factors.

If we trace back the repeating attributes of social class and wealth they all tend to gravitate to similar genetical discriminations (from wikipedia: "ability to distinguish one thing from another.")

And once the discrimination crosses the ingroup barrier, then the measure keeps "ranking" them among the different outgroups.

Before the internet the ingroups were not measured against outgroups as much.

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

#147
post #143

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…

OTOH, now that disabling likes is an option, we can form a cultural norm that enabling likes on your post is a shame-worthy, petty, insecure, attention-seeking behavior.

who is we? and why would the typical social media user care what "we" think?

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

#148

It 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.

Have the kids make a post to see who can get the most likes over a week, the teacher does a lame one as well ("read books this summer!"). Nobody likes the teachers post, until the last day when teacher buys 1000 likes for the post, blowing everyone away for $5.

Now the kids know its all made up and the points don't matter.

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

#150

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…

Also the comments are a big indicator of social media clout.
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