Disappointed that no one is liking your posts on Facebook and Instagram? Well, now you can spare your mental health by shunning the like count system.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced it would begin rolling out new settings that can hide the like count system. “This way, if you like, you can focus on the photos and videos being shared, instead of how many likes posts get,” the company said.
According to Facebook, you’ll be able to hide the like counts on every post that enters your feed in what appears to be the nuclear option.
You can also choose to hide the like count to your own individual posts, “so others can’t see how many likes your posts get,” Facebook said.
If the nuclear option is too much, the company explains: “You can hide like counts on others’ posts by visiting the new Posts section in Settings. This control applies to all the posts in your feed.”
And finally, you can also choose to hide a like count before sharing a post. “You can turn this setting on or off, even after it goes live,” the company said. The new settings should roll out to all users over the next few weeks.
Facebook originally added the like button back in 2009, and since then the simple function has become a signature feature to the social media platform. However, the system has also received criticism for creating feelings of anxiety and worthlessness for users when their posts get little to no likes.
So in 2019, the company began testing hiding the like counts on both Facebook and Instagram over concerns the system was taking a mental toll on some users. "We don't want Instagam to feel like a competition," Instagram head Adam Mosseri said at the time. "We want to make it a less pressurized environment."
On Wednesday, Facebook reported its findings from the testing, although the company didn't acknowledge if the like count was bad for one's mental health.
“What we heard from people and experts was that not seeing like counts was beneficial for some and annoying to others, particularly because people use like counts to get a sense of what’s trending or popular, so we’re giving you the choice,” the company merely said.