You May or May Not ‘Like’ This New Feature

The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”, could not be more true. Instagram has revolutionized the face of social media by allowing its users to connect with people, discover the unimaginable, and express their individuality through sharing photos and videos as a social and creative outlet. Since its launch in 2010, the multimedia sharing application continues taking the world by storm by attracting users with updated features like “stories” and “IGTV”. Instagram is on a mission to continue to appealing its users with the vision of being bigger and better than its competitors. Now, what is the next step for Instagram? 

Earlier this year, CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced a new feature that has gone through experimentation in several countries within Europe and South America. Now, the United States followed on experimenting of removing one of Instagram’s main features: likes. Mosseri’s sole purpose of removing likes from the platform is to depressurize users from being dependent on a number of likes a post receives for validation, to focus on improving mental and emotional health, and to focus on producing content creatively as opposed to competitively. The discarded feature will have its pros and cons, but it is up to users on how to approach the technological change. 

Linda Chapman, a freshman at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, admits to digging herself into the world of Instagram and her struggles of finding her way through the application. 

“If I had to give a maximum time I use Instagram per day, I’d say definitely more than two hours,” Chapman said. 

Chapman started using Instagram during her first year of high school. At first, she did not care to make her account. She soon realized that many of her peers were using Instagram, so she decided to make an account of her own. 

“There’s this perception on Instagram and people have a view,” Chapman added. “Everybody likes to show off. The way it is now with this generation, it is about showing off your body and your amazing hair,” she continued. 

Chapman likes to share what she did in her day and other interests on her account. Similarly, to other users, Chapman has experienced feeling dispirited due to some of her Instagram posts not getting enough attention from the number of likes. 

“If it’s a perfect picture I really like then yes, I feel bad not getting enough likes. I want to know that I’m being complimented,” Chapman said. “I do check [likes], and I don’t like that I check, but it’s something in the back of my mind.” 

In her years of using Instagram, Chapman has experienced changes in her mental and emotional health. She admits to her health declining as her time on Instagram has progressed. 

“With the friends I had it was all about depression and anxiety, and you’re trying to forget about that [mental and emotional issues] by using Instagram,” Chapman said. Looking at content that intrigues users and affects users’ self-image through a number of likes was a continuous cycle in Chapman’s daily life. She knew that to break from the cycle, a cycle she grew familiar with through the digital era, something needed to change. 

“Things people post aren’t exactly always happy. It makes me think, and I think ‘wow, I don’t like this.’ That’s when I log off,” Chapman added. 

Now aware of Instagram’s new feature, Chapman has a new goal and a liberating attitude towards using the application socially as opposed to competitively. 

“So, because I have this certain goal with what I want to do with my future, I’m going to be using it more now as a social outlet for putting stuff that I want to do for my future,” she said. 

Alternatively, not everyone uses Instagram. Paul Diaz, a senior at UTRGV has never seen the interest of making an Instagram account, yet sympathizes with the millions of users’ feelings of pressure on social media. 

“I think [Instagram] results in you presenting a very surface level or unbalanced portrait of your life as a whole. It would force me to be fake in a way,” Diaz said. 

Diaz used to be on other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Similar to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have engagement metrics such as likes, retweets, and sharing posts. Now, he has decided to stop using social media completely. 

“When I did use social media, I was a lot more concerned about what people thought of me. I understand more so now that your self-worth is determined by the number of likes on a photo you post,” Diaz added. 

Last year was Diaz’s last presence on social media. The pressure of keeping up a standard for the number of likes per post and societal standards made him reflect his self-image and appearance. When he was on social media, photos of Diaz were uploaded to Facebook by others friends who would tag him. After seeing his photos, he entered a self-conscious state of mind through subconsciously analyzing his appearance on each photo considering the standards. Seeing vitriol on social media that would happen made him feel numb and dispirited. 

“It made me wonder if this is how society looks as a whole. It also made me feel a bit more pessimistic about our relations. That was one of the reasons I felt the need to get off,” Diaz said. 

Although he has never been on Instagram, Diaz’s opinion on their destruction of likes remains true to his reasoning for being off social media in the first place. 

“If someone uses Instagram just to get their daily dose of dopamine, then I don’t care that they are removing the like feature,” Diaz said. 

The CEO of Instagram reiterated the focus of removing likes is to highlight the importance of keeping the applications roots in tact by creative and social networking means.

Diaz understands what the removal of likes can mean for users that use Instagram for professional purposes.

“The feature can make it more difficult for someone to gauge how much attention they are generating with their business,” Diaz said. “I think it will be problematic for people who have more utility for Instagram than your average person.”

Despite Instagram’s new goal, Diaz does not intend to use social media anytime soon. It is, however, up to users and non-users alike to determine if they want to use the application free of pressure towards seeking validation and number standards or otherwise. 

“Even though it is all still there, at least I am not exposing myself to it anymore. I feel better with who I am and where I am at now.”