In the millions of people online, you may have people that you are just hesitantly following. A family member, colleague, or friend can be anyone on Instagram, but the problem is that since these are close people, you might not want to hurt their feelings. So the solution, in this case, is to use Instagram's mute feature.
First things first, this mute feature shows how much effort Instagram is putting into harassment and bullying on the social network. While we all did have the option of blocking someone to avoid contact, mute does the same without having the user to suffer from the consequences that would arise from blocking.
Additionally, this feature will also prove useful to those people who just had a breakup. As people tend to avoid posts from an ex but don't want to go as far as blocking them, the ‘Mute' feature seems to be the perfect fit here. It will also give you more control over Instagram's algorithmic feed.
Since the algorithm prioritizes posts which you like and share, any job you wanted will most likely end up at the top of your feed, even if the post was liked just to show the person some love. Muting bypasses this and allows you more control over what appears in your Instagram feed, not worrying about the posts they liked. To proceed with muting someone on Instagram, here are three distinct ways.
How to Mute People on Instagram
First things first, you need to open the Instagram app on your Android or iPhone. Then what you need to do is, is to visit the person's profile. I can is done either by searching for them using Instagram's search option, which gets accessed through the magnifying glass at the bottom left of your screen, or by tapping their username when it appears in your feed.
Next, what you need to do is look at the top right corner of the screen, next to the username, and you will see ellipses you need to tap. To start the process of muting someone, you need to look at the right of the username and tap "…". You will get greeted with a list of options with "Mute" included in them. Tap the "Mute" button to get rid of all those annoying posts that have been bugging you for quite some time.
How to Mute Someone's Posts on Instagram
Proceed to the Instagram app and open it on your Android or iPhone. Once again, tap the ellipses, which will get located to the right of the username. A list of options will appear for you to choose from. Go ahead, pick the mute option, and then select 'Posts' from the available options.
How to Mute Someone's Stories on Instagram
It is the same as muting someone's post with only one difference in the steps at the end. You will have to locate and open the Instagram app on either your iPhone or Android. Then you have to find the person in the stories bar just at the top of your screen.
All you have to do is hold down, and you will get presented with a list of options. Select 'Mute' from the list, and then you can choose either you want to mute the stories of the person or both the stories and the posts. Muting someone is a much more subtle way of avoiding someone's posts but don't want to go to the extreme of unfollowing or blocking. Mute ensures the person doesn't know, so you will also be safe from hurting their feelings.
When you meet a user, although you won't be seeing posts from them in your feed, you both will still be connected which allows either of you to see each other's profile and the posts on each other's profiles. Blocking differs from this as it no longer allows you or the person to view each other's profiles, performing a complete disconnection. Your post and stories can still get seen from a muted person.
What happens when you mute someone on Instagram?
This feature can come useful because of several reasons. Muting others will allow you to: Following a large number of users can make your feed overflowing with content which can be overwhelming. Avoid someone's posts without hurting their feelings and without completely disconnecting from them. Stop seeing someone's post about an event that could include a wedding, vacation, or a trip.
Mute someone first as it has no consequences and gives you the freedom from an annoying person's post, and then decide if the person should stay in your following list or they should get blocked. Control what goes in your feed and prioritize the content of the people you love, the content you want to see. Prioritize content from users you want to see.
How to Unmute Users' Stories From the Stories Feed
If you decided you want to see someone's stories back again, you could either tap their name bubble at the end of the list, or you can proceed to unmute their stories. To unmute someone's stories, all you have to do is to locate the person's bubble. It will be transparent, so entirely different from the others. Once you find it, tap and hold the balloon and select unmute from the list of options that appear. Now you can see this person's stories again.
How to See Who You've Muted
If you have lost track of the people, you have muted so don't worry Instagram has a list which records everyone you have muted. You can find it in your privacy settings. Navigate to your profile by tapping your profile icon in the bottom menu. Tap the menu icon in the top right corner. Tap Settings. Tap Privacy. Under Connections, tap Muted Accounts. You can unmute anyone from here by following our steps above.
How to Kow if Someone has Muted You
As we have discussed above, there are three types of mute settings on Instagram. Messages mute Push notifications mute Stories and post mute If you were to mute someone on Instagram, the muted person wouldn't get notified or be aware of the fact that you muted them. It's different from blocking as in blocking you can visit the other person's profile and tell, whereas in muting you can see each other's profile and posts. It means it's not so easy to know if someone has muted you on the social media giant. One way would be, of course, if you see no likes at all from someone on your posts or your Instagram Stories that it's evident that something is up.
If the person has stopped replying to your video chats or your DMs, this might also mean something is up. It's still quite tricky to know if someone has you muted on Instagram as you both are still able to access each other's profiles and will also receive notifications about the posts either of you is tagged. When it comes to hiding it from someone, Instagram allows you to protect someone from your stories which stops them from seeing any posts you make to your account till you unhide them back again. Once again, it's hard for you to know if someone has hidden their stories from you as you still don't get notified, but there is a way to find out. You could ask a friend to send the story of a person you suspect has hidden their stories from you, if you are unable to see it, then your answer is crystal clear.
If someone has hidden their stories from you, it won't affect their profile, and you can see it just the same, only the stories are unavailable to view. Instagram, just like other social media companies, wants to personalize user's experience with every update or new feature they bring. It could mean they will allow quieting down the people you don't want to hear much from or just go the route of completing blocking someone entirely. Instagram makes a user's experience personalized in many ways, which means even you can get muted, so someone's experience is better.
What Could get You Muted
One reason that many people keep saying is that someone gets muted because they are just too 'perfect'. These people look too good, which can be stressful for others, who are already insecure about their looks. Unfollowing, of course, takes things too far and would probably be also mean. But when you keep seeing posts of someone's perfect skin or their toned body, you get these thoughts in our mind saying that maybe you should go on a diet.
Everyone does not adore this feeling; people just mute others, so they don't go through this. Some people mute others not because of their looks, but because of the way they live, their lifestyle. It does make several people uncomfortable when they see another always on vacation with a cocktail on his/her hand. Or maybe there is someone who keeps traveling, visiting so many different places and trying a variety of dishes. This luxury not everyone can afford, and it does make some people jealous.
Unfollowing again is way too harsh but mute seems to do the trick. Muting is not always related to a negative feeling, though. It can get used tactically. If you see someone's stories and you don't want to tap right away, or you'll look desperate. Then you can mute their stories so that they appear at the end, giving you plenty of room and time to decide when to see them.
Another quite popular reason is that a particular person might be fantastic in real life, but they might be annoying when it comes to their online presence. There might be friends you chill out with everyday or make plans with them quite frequently, but when they come online, it's unbearable. There might be friends you love and adore, but when these fiends post everything from what they eat at lunch, breakfast, and dinner, things might start to seem annoying.
You would never unfollow them as they are your friends, and it would be too harsh to unfollow, but 'mute' seems just right for the job. Now thoughts like, if you are muted yourself on Instagram, might be swarming your mind. Out of the several people, you meet, locally, online, or at work, there might be someone who may have muted you. Maybe what you post is lowkey irritating or not someone's cup of tea, or perhaps the way you display your 'perfection' might not be what someone wants to see and get insecure. Or maybe assuming you would be in a particular person's mind at all, is arrogant.
The feelings might be mutual though, if the person muting you finds out he gets muted by someone else, which is entirely possible, he/she might feel the same way. If you were to find out that someone muted you because of how they felt bad looking at your looks every day, it's not that bad, but if you find out someone has muted you because you might seem annoying, this might hurt a bit.