Everybody gets affected by the number of likes their social media posts get—everybody. Each of us just has a different way of interpreting its significance and then deciding whether to internalize that interpretation or shrug it off.

That, however, doesn’t stop vultures from capitalizing on the idea that the number of likes that a person gets should be an indicator of their popularity, relevance, or influence.

Given the fucked-up algorithm of both Facebook and Instagram, which has users seeing more and more posts from advertisers instead of from accounts they actually and willingly subscribed to, we should already know that nothing on social media organic anymore. Nothing is really viral or spontaneous anymore with bigger brands encroaching a space that used to be powered solely by user content.

Still, that knowledge doesn’t keep us immune from feeling some type of way whenever our posts get a less than enthusiastic reception from our followers. Even those with a healthy self-esteem can be affected by the perception that not a lot of people care about what they’ve shared about themselves or their lives—especially since it’s visible to everybody. The initial fun of unfiltered self-expression that social media offered has long been replaced by a thirst for attention and validation that any kind of popularity contest fosters. It has made posting less spontaneous and more calculated, more geared towards crafting and curating an online persona or brand rather than actually connecting with people online.

Social media networks have everything to gain by continuing to prey on our egos. That’s why news of Instagram developing a prototype that hides the number of likes that a post garners has made more than a few users, me included, skeptical. Oh, Instagram gives a shit about us? The platform that shadow-bans takes offense at the sight of women’s nipples but also serves as the nursery for many a scam perpetuated by influencers (see: Aggie Lal’s botched “master class”and Caroline Calloway’s cancelled “Creativity Workshop” tour)? Really?

Reverse-engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong was the first to spot Instagram’s design change test in the app’s Android code and she took screen shots of the tweaks she had observed:

In addition, Instagram developers offered a short note to users to explain the small but significant change: “We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get. During this test, only the person who shares a post will see the total number of likes it gets.”

TechCrunch’s Josh Constine reached out to Instagram to confirm whether the social network will be rolling out the new prototype anytime soon, and a spokesperson told them, “We’re not testing this at the moment, but exploring ways to reduce pressure on Instagram is something we’re always thinking about.” The website also reminds readers that the app’s Stories feature was originally intended to reduce the pressure of amassing likes for every post, as Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom admitted in 2016.

That’s well and good, but even if this design change gets officially introduced, there is still Instagram’s terrible algorithm to contend with. We still won’t see posts from the accounts we follow in chronological order because their ranking in our feeds would still depend on the number of likes they get. A user’s follower count will also remain visible to the public, which is yet another factor in this whole online popularity contest—and one that is not at all immune from manipulation, either.

Hiding the number of likes might help assuage the narcissistic spiral and self-esteem issues that social media has particularly wreaked upon the population. I fear, though, that the system is already too corrupted to reverse the damage significantly, and the general populace is too damaged already to lift itself up and out of that spiral. As it is, more and more people are traveling just to take photos for the ‘Gram to the point of even dying for it. Even when there’s no direct monetary compensation for presenting glossily filtered images of one’s life, non-celebrities are stunting for pics and crafting long-winded captions that are meant to show—I don’t know, that they have a fabulous and fulfilling life? It isn’t uncommon for users to take down posts that have earned just a few paltry likes. And let’s not even get into the fact that despite having millions of unique users, the images of beauty and aspirational lifestyle that this platform generates remain homogeneous.

Maybe if Instagram returns to being a platform meant solely for user-generated content with no advertisers and sponsored posts allowed (or at least have both be severely restricted), we wouldn’t feel so compelled to chase after online attention and clout anymore. It won’t totally erase that all-too-human trait of needing validation, but once cash is taken out of the equation, at least brands and advertisers would have less avenues for monetizing our insecurities.

Oh, who am I kidding? I can already hear Instagram doubling over with laughter over that idea.

This story was published in April 2019 on the Garage Magazine website. Header image by Unsplash.