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The Benefits of Facebook and Instagram Hiding Like Counts
Facebook and Instagram are two of the most widely used social media apps in the world. With sharing our thoughts through posts, photos, and videos, we enjoy seeing other people take interest in what we share through their likes. Influencers, especially on Instagram, build their career through the number of likes and shares their posts get. However, there are negative effects to monitoring and obsessing over your like counts especially for the youth.
Studies show that social networks are usually associated with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. This is commonly evident in adolescents who are more active in social media. It’s very easy to compare yourself to other people online which causes negative body image. This comparison can also result to low self-esteem and fear of missing out.
Having a certain number of likes may boost a person’s confidence, however, depending your self-worth on those figures can greatly affect how you view yourself. It’s helpful to be aware of the negative effects of social media so you could assess yourself and focus on things that really matter.
Recently, Facebook and Instagram announced that they will be giving the users an option to hide their number of likes and the choice whether to see the like counts of other people’s posts. According to Facebook, this change is beneficial to some and annoying to others particularly because people use like counts to get a sense of what’s trending or popular, so they decided to give the users a choice. If they choose to use this option, they would still see the people who liked their posts but not the number of likes.
The benefit of this option gives the audience a chance to focus more on the content and connecting with people rather than the response they’re going to get. It would also decrease the level of anxiety in posting photos or videos on Instagram. Moreover, it will remove the pressure of measuring popularity through the number of likes.
While it might take some time for users to understand the bigger concept of this change, it’s a huge step to ease anxiety and pressure on social media. The number of likes or followers you get will never define you as a person. Use social media in moderation and as a tool to connect with people and things you love, not to destroy your confidence or build unrealistic expectations.
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References:
Abington-Jefferson Health, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.abingtonhealth.org/healthy-living/health-news/library/articles-related-to-general-health/are-instagram-and-other-social-media-bad-for-your-teens-mental-h/#:~:text=They%20found%20that%20Instagram%20and,image%20and%20poor%20sleep%20habits.
Andrew Hutchinson, 2021, SocialMediaToday, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-rolls-out-new-option-to-hide-like-counts-on-posts-which-is-also/600808/
Claire Duffy, 2021, CNN Business, accessed 2 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/26/tech/facebook-instagram-hiding-likes/index.html
Casey Newton, 2021, The Verge, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22456206/instagram-hiding-likes-experiment-results-platformer
Emi, 2019, SBRN, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.sedentarybehaviour.org/2019/07/24/instagrams-hidden-likes-youth-mental-health/
The Benefits of Facebook and Instagram Hiding Like Counts
Facebook and Instagram are two of the most widely used social media apps in the world. With sharing our thoughts through posts, photos, and videos, we enjoy seeing other people take interest in what we share through their likes. Influencers, especially on Instagram, build their career through the number of likes and shares their posts get. However, there are negative effects to monitoring and obsessing over your like counts especially for the youth.
Studies show that social networks are usually associated with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. This is commonly evident in adolescents who are more active in social media. It’s very easy to compare yourself to other people online which causes negative body image. This comparison can also result to low self-esteem and fear of missing out.
Having a certain number of likes may boost a person’s confidence, however, depending your self-worth on those figures can greatly affect how you view yourself. It’s helpful to be aware of the negative effects of social media so you could assess yourself and focus on things that really matter.
Recently, Facebook and Instagram announced that they will be giving the users an option to hide their number of likes and the choice whether to see the like counts of other people’s posts. According to Facebook, this change is beneficial to some and annoying to others particularly because people use like counts to get a sense of what’s trending or popular, so they decided to give the users a choice. If they choose to use this option, they would still see the people who liked their posts but not the number of likes.
The benefit of this option gives the audience a chance to focus more on the content and connecting with people rather than the response they’re going to get. It would also decrease the level of anxiety in posting photos or videos on Instagram. Moreover, it will remove the pressure of measuring popularity through the number of likes.
While it might take some time for users to understand the bigger concept of this change, it’s a huge step to ease anxiety and pressure on social media. The number of likes or followers you get will never define you as a person. Use social media in moderation and as a tool to connect with people and things you love, not to destroy your confidence or build unrealistic expectations.
References
Abington-Jefferson Health, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.abingtonhealth.org/healthy-living/health-news/library/articles-related-to-general-health/are-instagram-and-other-social-media-bad-for-your-teens-mental-h/#:~:text=They%20found%20that%20Instagram%20and,image%20and%20poor%20sleep%20habits.
Andrew Hutchinson, 2021, SocialMediaToday, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/instagram-rolls-out-new-option-to-hide-like-counts-on-posts-which-is-also/600808/
Claire Duffy, 2021, CNN Business, accessed 2 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/26/tech/facebook-instagram-hiding-likes/index.html
Casey Newton, 2021, The Verge, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22456206/instagram-hiding-likes-experiment-results-platformer
Emi, 2019, SBRN, accessed 2 June 2021, https://www.sedentarybehaviour.org/2019/07/24/instagrams-hidden-likes-youth-mental-health
FacebookとInstagramが「いいね！」数を隠すことのメリット
FacebookとInstagramは、世界で最も広く利用されているソーシャルメディアアプリの1つです。投稿や写真、動画で自分の考えを共有すると、他の人が「いいね！」で自分の共有したものに興味を持ってくれるのが楽しいですよね。特にInstagramのインフルエンサーは、自分の投稿についた「いいね！」や「シェア」の数でキャリアを築いています。しかし、「いいね！」の数を監視したり、執着したりすることには、特に若者にとってはマイナスの影響があります。
研究によると、ソーシャルネットワークは、不安や抑うつなどの精神的な問題と関連していることがわかっています。これは、ソーシャルメディアに積極的に参加している若い方によく見られます。ネット上では他人と自分を比較しやすいため、ネガティブなボディ・イメージが生まれます。このような比較は、自尊心の低下や欠乏への恐れにもつながります。
「いいね！」の数が多ければ自信が持てるかもしれませんが、その数字に自分の価値を依存することは、自分をどう見るかに大きく影響します。ソーシャルメディアのマイナス効果を知り、自分を見極め、本当に大切なことに集中することが大切です。
先日、FacebookとInstagramは、自分の「いいね！」の数を隠すオプションと、他人の投稿の「いいね！」の数を見るかどうかの選択肢をユーザーに提供することを発表しました。Facebook社によると、この変更は、ある人にとっては有益であり、ある人にとっては頭をなやませるものであるとのことです。なぜなら、人々は「いいね！」の数を利用して、何がトレンドであるか、何が人気であるかを知ることができるからです。このオプションを選択した場合、ユーザーは自分の投稿に「いいね！」をした人を見ることができますが、「いいね！」の数は表示されません。
このオプションの利点は、オーディエンスが、自分が得ようとしている反応よりも、コンテンツや人とのつながりにもっと集中する機会を与えてくれることです。また、インスタグラムに写真や動画を投稿する際の不安度も減少するでしょう。さらに、「いいね！」の数で人気を測るというプレッシャーもなくなるでしょう。
この変更の大きなコンセプトをユーザーが理解するには時間がかかるかもしれませんが、ソーシャルメディア上の不安やプレッシャーを和らげる大きな一歩となるでしょう。「いいね！」の数やフォロワーの数で、あなたの人間性が決まることはありません。自信をなくしたり、非現実的な期待を抱かせたりするためではなく、節度を持って、好きな人や物とつながるためのツールとしてソーシャルメディアを活用してください。