Instagram no longer counts likes

Look, there are of course more important things to worry about in life (such as the breakup between André and Bridgeand the striking behavior of Leonie ter Braak in Who is the mole?), but what really occupied my mind yesterday was the absence of the ‘score’ of the number of likes on your Instagram post.

Not that it's the highest achievable thing in life, but your photo and the accompanying text are still ’rated‘ by the number of likes. Close by does better than far away, an honest story better than a standard text. Your followers want something unique, and rightly so.

But suddenly the fun was over. ‘Adeline Mans and others like your photo,’ it said. And others? But which others? And more importantly: how many others? Because aside from the fact that you want to see how your photo performs with people, Instagram also serves your post to more people as soon as your followers' engagement is higher.

Now it felt a bit like a test without a grade. Like standing on the scale without being able to read the number of kilos, like shopping without knowing what you're paying. And then suddenly I thought that maybe it wasn't such a crazy idea from the company Instagram. Our lives are already so focused on judging and being judged. And if Adeline likes your photo and has read your text with pleasure, well, what more could a person want?