WHY FACEBOOK MAY HIDE LIKES ON POSTS FOLLOWING LINKS TO MENTAL HEALTH

THE REASONS BEHIND IT

There’s been a rumour going around for sometime now that Facebook are playing around with the idea of hiding ‘likes’ on people’s posts in a bid to encourage a more solid form of engagement instead.  However, the idea is apparently not for Facebook to ban likes all together. People would still be able to like posts but only the post creator would see how many people actually ‘liked’ it.

The tally itself would be hidden from public view. There appears to be a deeper meaning behind this. It seems vanity metrics not only helps proliferate narcissism but it’s also proving to have a detrimental affect on people’s mental health and self esteem as they compare their ‘likes’ to that of others.

This is particularly true of the teenage demographic who are at a vulnerable age and who measure their popularity against the amount of public ‘likes’ their posts receive. This has resulted in obsessive bids to create the perfect Instagram or FB post in order to feel ‘good’ or seek social approval from an audience that is largely made up of complete strangers.

WHAT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN

In one recent UCLA study it was proved that teenagers are also more likely to engage with a post if more people have liked it. They are heavily susceptible to being influenced by the number of “likes” on a post. Equally they feel worse if their posts haven’t received the same amount of interaction. It can quickly become an unhealthy cocktail.

Thankfully mental health and wellbeing has become a hot topic in recent years. More people are talking openly about their struggles including those of celebrity status and there has been a societal shift in people’s attitudes towards it. Anxiety and depression are no longer considered taboo subjects and are being acknowledged more widely in the workplace. So where do the social media platforms fit into all of this?

Well, to give you an idea, a 2017 study cited Instagram as being the worst social network for your mental health with links to depression and anxiety particularly in young people. Conversely, YouTube came out top as the most positive.

HOW HIDING LIKES COULD HELP

Hiding likes from FB and Instagram will most definitely create an interesting ripple across the platforms. Will it ease people’s addiction for likes and public high fives when nobody else can see them? Possibly. Or is the thrill really in watching the public like count go up? That likely depends on the count…Will the tumbleweeds set in when comments don’t always come in their place? Perhaps.

Could hiding likes really have a positive impact on our own wellbeing and that of the younger rising generations? Only time and experimentation will tell. No social media platform can please everyone so opinions may vary and people’s viewing habits may change as a result.

My hope is that it will help take the burden off. That people will feel freer to post what they like, just because and that it will level the playing field. When ‘life comparing’ and ‘like comparing’ is there at our finger tips it can quickly impact our self esteem and emotional wellbeing. 

While removing our ability to see other people’s likes won’t eradicate ‘life envy’ in social media, it will in my opinion create a more inclusive environment for us all to create in.

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