Option to hide likes on social media?
Facebook and Instagram have come up with the option to allow users to hide the number of likes on their posts, keeping in mind the potentially harmful psychological effects of social media engagement. The latest feature is being touted as a positive effort and psychologists say it could help depressurise the environment.
“Likes can have a powerful effect on the mental health and well-being of young and adolescents, who are quite perceptive to external approval. If they see dislikes on their posts, it may affect them negatively and diminish their self-worth,” opines Dr Mona Chaudhary, a psychologist, adding, “Removing likes may help youngsters, who have built their entire reality on social media.” Young users on the platforms welcome the option. “This will help lessen the negativity on social media,” says Ridhi Solanki, a corporate professional in the city. And while there have been discussions around the fact that it might be detrimental to the engagement that influencers and business accounts aim for, social media influencer Masoom Minawala says, “I don’t believe hiding likes will affect the following as users today are smart to not judge content by the number of likes — the herd mentality has gone, to quite an extent. I feel hiding likes will help improve the mental health and overall nature of business.” Musician Yashraj Mukhate says, “It is good when the platforms offer settings that give the creators more control . Although, I won’t be using it for now as I am fine with people seeing the number of likes and dislikes . I don’t think hiding likes affects the brand.”