Option to hide likes on social media? Influencers, psychologists give thumbs up

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 may look like a small part of social media, but they can have a powerful effect on the mental health and well-being of young people 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 Delhi-based psychologist, adding, “Removing likes may help youngsters, who have built their entire reality on social media, realise that it is only a part of their lives.”

People can now choose to hide the number of likes and reactions for their as well as others’ posts on their feeds. And young users on the platforms welcome the option. “While initially, social media was more about connectivity, it has now become toxic. For a while, having fewer likes on my posts as compared to my friends would bother me. The option to hide likes gives me a sense of comfort, simply because people can just see and appreciate a post without worrying about how liked it is online. This will help lessen the negativity on social media, especially among youngsters,” 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.”

Agreeing with Minawala, musician Yashraj Mukhate says the feature won’t affect his brand and adds, “It is good when the platforms offer settings that give the creators more control over their profile. Although, I won’t be using it for now as I am fine with people seeing the number of likes and dislikes on my content. I don’t think hiding likes affects the brand as I’ll still be able to monitor them at the back-end.”