People May Like You, but Instagram Doesn’t Want You to Know

A teenage girl prepares to post on Instagram. She’s waited for the time that her Instagram analytics app tells her is optimal for posting, and after nervously clicking “share,” stares expectantly at her activity feed. A few seconds go by. Has no one liked it yet? Then a little red icon appears at the bottom of her screen, a white heart next to the number ten. She exhales; the photo can stay. For the rest of the day, she obsessively checks to make sure her post continues to get enough likes, each refresh a shot of dopamine.

This experience is relatable for millions of Instagram users, whose relationship with the app is largely defined by likes. But this could change soon, as Instagram recently announced its plans to hide likes for some users in the United States, expanding the test that has already been instituted in Canada, Australia, Ireland, and other countries. Starting this week, likes will be visible to the person who posted the photo, but not to other users. This test is a response to the growing worry that likes have a negative impact on users’ mental health. “While the feedback from early testing in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand has been positive,” Instagram stated, “this is a fundamental change to Instagram, and so we’re continuing our test to learn more from our global community.”

The idea of this new feature has been met with both criticism and praise. One looming question is, what will become of Instagram influencers who profit off of their like counts? Instagram has acknowledged this, writing, “We understand that like counts are important for many creators, and we are actively thinking through ways for creators to communicate value to their partners.” Rapper Rico Nasty tweeted, “Damn, they really gonna kill Instagram how they did MySpace… see y’all on the new app.” With similar sentiments, Nicki Minaj tweeted, “I’m not posting on IG after this week cuz they removing the likes. What should I get into now?” Negative reactions like these seem to come primarily from those with significant followings on the app, like celebrities and other influencers.

Some believe that it’s a positive change to the platform, as the existence of likes places more social pressure on users, fostering an unhealthy culture of comparison that allows self-worth to hinge on nothing more than an arbitrary number. Many Instagram users obsess over optimal posting times’ and are known to delete pictures that don’t meet their self-imposed minimum-like requirements. Chelsea Ritschel writes in The Independent, “Three years ago my older brother told me to delete my most-recent Instagram picture because it hadn’t gotten enough likes. I listened to him and removed the (apparently) shameful photo from my feed.” In 2016, Business Insider wrote about one teen who also “deletes photos when she doesn’t get a lot of likes...she says she has over 500 followers and most of her posts have around 100 likes.” These rules of Instagram are unwritten yet universally acknowledged; it goes without saying that a selfie or photo with friends will get more likes than a photo of nature. With this in mind, people curate a version of themselves that they know will encourage the most double-tapping from their followers.

In an era where likes have a strong correlation with defining both self-worth and the worth of others, what does a likeless Instagram mean? Perhaps it means promoting a less performative social media platform, where every image shared doesn’t have to showcase beauty or social life. By its very nature as a stage for highly curated online personas, Instagram struggles to serve as a reflection of the true self, but removing likes and the pressure attached to them will hopefully encourage the sharing of images that are more closely aligned with users’ genuine interests. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said, “The idea is to try and depressurize Instagram, make it less of a competition, give people more space to focus on connecting with people that they love, things that inspire them.”

Even with all this in mind, there’s something to be said for the rush of dopamine that’s triggered when someone posts a photo and their phone is inundated with Instagram notifications, and their number of likes meets or surpasses expectations. It’s hard to get around the fact that this tangible validation — a literal, visible number quantifying one’s worth — feels invaluable to users. This is why so many people balk at the idea of removing likes; without the validation, and the necessary element that this validation be visible to others, what’s the point? Unfortunately, this argument can shift too easily in the opposite direction; when users don’t get enough likes, their self-esteem takes a heavy hit. Child psychologist Dr. Cheryl Ziegler said, “If [users] post something and it doesn’t get a lot of likes they literally beat themselves up...Having people a little less addicted to the ding, ding, you’ve got likes… will only do good.” Instagram is aware of this as well; at the tech event Wired25, Mosseri said, “We will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people's well-being and health.”

Ultimately, hiding likes seems to be the logical first step in detaching Instagram posts from self-worth, which right now are toxically intertwined. It’s not a cure-all for the inherently unhealthy nature of social media, but it will make posting photos a low-risk and enjoyable activity, and help turn Instagram into the positive medium for sharing and self-expression that it was originally intended to be.