Improving your Instagram experience doesn’t have to be so difficult or emotionally taxing. Here are some tips for maintaining a positive atmosphere online and preventing social media from having too much of a say over your real life.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. For some, it can be a really positive experience — helping people make money off their accounts, send cool pictures or videos to their friends, or just post some of their greatest memories. On the other hand, Instagram can be really detrimental in hurting a person’s confidence and self esteem. Here are ways to improve your experience and prevent it from having the power to do so.
- Hide The Number of Likes
- Instagram now gives the user an option to hide their like counts so that only the poster can see how many likes their upload got. For people who like posting but are scared to see a low number attached to it, hiding the number of likes can make your uploads feel less like marketing and more personal.
- Private Accounts
- When using social media, it can be scary thinking your photos are just out in the public. Instagram allows users to put their accounts private so only approved people can view whatever the user posts. This is helpful for people who still want to participate in the fun of posting but also want to keep their lives away from prying or unidentified eyes.
- Mute Unwanted Accounts or Topics
- In order to block out things you do not enjoy, you can mute accounts and topics you do not want to see. This can help eliminate anything toxic from your feed, including people, hashtags, and posts.
- Set a Time Limit
- A huge issue for me is that I feel that I spend too much time on Instagram. In order to resolve that, I’ve set a time limit on my Instagram app. When I am on the app past this time limit it’ll alert me and kick me off. I still have the chance to ignore it, if I want to continue, but it’s really helpful in reminding me how long I’ve been on the app to avoid mindless scrolling.
- Unfollow Accounts
- It can be really difficult to unfollow accounts, especially if you’re trying to unfollow someone you know on a personal level. When someone is posting something that negatively impacts you, there should be no guilt in ridding yourself of that energy. Cleaning out your account and unfollowing all the accounts that make you unhappy is a good way to have positive experiences while using the app.
Making your account personal to you and only seeing what you want to see will make the app a more positive thing for you. Remind yourself that your enjoyment is the whole reason behind having it, in the first place. Maintain a safe and pleasurable environment, as best as you can.