Instagram Announces a New, Ghoster-Friendly Change to DMs

Ghosting is when you abruptly cut off all communication without warning, explanation, or evidence. You do that because you feel no spark but don’t want to explain yourself. It’s up to the other person to decide whether you lost your phone, emigrated, or had a grisly accident. A new change to the DMs on Instagram has long been awaited by ghosters.

New Ghoster-Friendly Instagram Feature

Many people give themselves away when they accidentally click on an unopened message in their DMs. Now the other person will think that you are just ignoring them. Serial ghosters can breathe a sigh of relief now. Instagram is introducing an option that will let people disable read receipts in their DMs.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg and Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said that the feature is being tested at the moment and gave fans a sneak peek of the setup. The pair said nothing about the possible release date. Users will be able to switch the ‘seen’ label off with the click of a button, and the receiver will have no idea if the message was read. Many social media users were delighted to read the news on Mosseri’s Instagram broadcast channel. It said that Meta heard the users’ feedback and started testing a new feature. It also said that people would be able to choose when to let others see when they read their messages.

How the DMs Work Now

Zuckerberg joked in turn in his post that the day of people who leave people on read has come. The feature will be activated from the Privacy and Safety settings, then toggle next to the words ‘Read receipts’ under the category titled ‘Who can see your activity.’ The description below explains: “Others can see when you’ve read their messages. Vanish mode messages always send read receipts.”

Simply switch it off to ignore people. Most people approved of the idea, but others complained they would no longer know when they were being ignored and that it was “not fun.”