{"id":16618,"date":"2023-06-30T14:45:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T14:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gustavopineda.com\/?p=16618"},"modified":"2023-06-30T14:45:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T14:45:55","slug":"mute-button-instagram-jealousy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gustavopineda.com\/?p=16618","title":{"rendered":"A growing reason to ‘mute’ someone on Instagram? Envy."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Muting on Instagram<\/a> serves many purposes. It’s been most openly known as a step below blocking: a basic way to hide posts or stories from someone who perhaps updates their account too often or whose digital life you don’t need to see.<\/p>\n

But a growing reason for muting isn’t so simple. <\/p>\n

At an Instagram<\/a> event this week, a panel of creators spoke to journalists about the various ways in which they use the app, and their own relationship with social media. Many told us how this relationship has evolved, especially after the pandemic. But one phenomenon within this conversation stood out to me. Several of these creators said they have utilized Instagram’s mute feature \u2014 and not to limit annoying content, but because of their own envy. <\/p>\n

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\n We’re living through the age of delusion
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The creators spoke about professional or personal jealousy that hindered their own progress. In other words, this is envy, defined as feelings of resentment<\/a> over what someone else has. Participants said things like brand endorsements, or even someone else’s covetable wardrobe, prompted them to mute other creators.<\/p>\n

Turns out, they’re not the only ones. Muting is already pervasive, but muting as a result of pressing jealousy or envy is too. <\/p>\n

What prompts an envious Instagram mute?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dulcie, 31, tells me that she once muted her best friend when he went on holiday with his girlfriend. <\/p>\n

“I was just profoundly jealous that he was on holiday and I wasn’t,” she says. “It felt weird to be jealous of my nice friend having a nice time, but also I haven\u2019t left the country in a long time and was having a shit time with work, so it kind of makes sense.” <\/p>\n

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\n Credit: Bob Al-Greene \/ Mashable<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Likewise, Prema, 26, said she muted her flatmate on Instagram when the latter went to a two-month weight loss camp. At the time, her content was about “the significant weight loss” and “how good she looked and felt.”<\/p>\n

“It triggered me because I was also trying to make the same feeling happen for myself, but I don’t have the luxury,” Prema explains. “At first I didn’t realise I was jealous so I just muted her. Then I realised what I was jealous about wasn’t her progress \u2014 it was more that I was jealous because I wish I could do the same thing for myself.”<\/p>\n

What both Prema and Dulcie witnessed on Instagram elicited pretty strong reactions. But this is the nature of social media, a problem since its inception. <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s completely understandable why engaging with social media on a frequent basis may lead to increased feelings of jealousy or envy,” says Dr. Anisha Patel-Dunn, DO, psychiatrist, and Chief Medical Officer at LifeStance Health. “We\u2019re only seeing a tiny snippet of other\u2019s lives that may be edited to seem ‘perfect’.”<\/p>\n


\n “At first I didn’t realise I was jealous so I just muted her. Then I realised what I was jealous about wasn’t her progress…”<\/p>\n