If you’re an Instagram user, there’s a very good chance that you once made the mistake of following someone you know without knowing exactly what you were getting into. There’s nothing worse than deciding to throw a casual acquaintance a pity follow only to discover they devote way too much time sharing inspirational quotes, shitty photos of food, and gym selfies taken from just the right angle.
In the past, you had a couple of options when it came to addressing your mistake: you could either deal with the endless stream of photos you don’t give a shit about or risk sparking internet drama by deciding to unfollow someone.
Thankfully, Instagram has taken the lead from Twitter and Facebook by finally letting you mute the most annoying accounts in your feed without having to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings or, even worse, losing a follower yourself.According to Time, Instagram will be gradually rolling out the feature in the coming weeks. Silencing someone is pretty straightforward— the “mute” button will now accompany the “block” and “unfollow” options when you click on a picture or account (you can also mute Stories if you happen to follow people who insist on documenting every single aspect of their life).
You’ll still be able to DM muted peers and view their account if the spirit moves you, which means you won’t have to deal with petty passive aggressiveness because you got sick of seeing vacation pictures from someone whose parents are paying for them to travel the globe.
It’s about damn time.
