Instagram is a platform where people are able to share photos or videos to a wide range of audiences. Instagram allows you to leave a like or comment on someone’s post of a picture or a video. Personally, seeing who likes my posts and how many likes my post receives is interesting and exciting. Nevertheless, Instagram may ruin the fun by taking away the liking feature.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced on Nov. 14 that his company would remove likes on posts. Instagram has since removed the liking feature in seven countries and America is set to be the eighth. As an avid Instagram user since fifth grade, I have always loved the aspect of being able to see who likes my posts as well as who likes other people’s posts because it makes me believe that people actually care about what I have to share. I am aware it sounds shallow that I care what people think of my posts, but why post or share things if no one cares?

Kids in the early 2000s used to watch TV for pleasure, but now the TV is used as background noise when on social media. For me, I’ll turn on a show and sit on the couch and just scroll through Instagram. Going through posts and liking people’s posts is satisfying enough for me. I enjoy doing this for hours, but if the likes were removed I would honestly not use the app as much. Removing this key component will simply leave Instagram users in outrage.

Another appealing aspect of posting something on Instagram is simply waiting for the likes to roll in. Even though likes are just a number and do not necessarily mean anything, I find it interesting to see how many likes I get.  After every time I post, I frequently refresh to see the amount of likes and anyone new that has liked or commented on it. On the contrary, I understand where Instagram is coming from as some people do obsess over the amount of likes they receive and will actually delete their post if the number is not to their standards. People have definitely become more concerned with popularity and the public’s perception of them due to Instagram’s liking feature, but if people are enjoying the feature, I do not see the need to remove it.

Instagram should not remove the liking feature, however, they should keep improving the app. It would be interesting to see if Instagram allowed games that you can play with one another in the direct message section. I love Instagram and cannot wait to see how many likes I get on my next post.