Android/iOS: Your favourite social network for pretending you have a perfect life is now ready to let everyone know when you’re online and lurking. Instagram is adding an activity status indicator to the people in your Direct Messages list, letting you know when they’re on and ignoring that last funny video you sent. If you’re of the same opinion as me, you’re probably wondering how to disable this terrible new feature. Good news, lurkers: You can!
Image credit: David Becker/Getty
The feature might be a carry-over from Facebook Messenger according to The Next Web, but just because you can know when someone’s online and killing time scrolling through images doesn’t mean you should.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/12/your-happiness-is-built-with-the-little-things/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/tur51vtqfdb8fuiztqms.jpg” title=”Your Happiness Is Built With The Little Things” excerpt=”Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life.”]
Disabling Your Status Indicator
Removing your status indicator, letting you lurk with reckless abandon, becoming beholden to no one’s demand on your time or attention, is easy. Open the app, select your Profile tab, and hit the Settings icon. Scroll down and toggle off “Show Activity Status”. Problem solved.
Disabling the feature will prevent you from seeing the activity status of everyone else, but maybe you should instead consider it a fair trade for hiding your own presence from the world.
Instagram now tells everyone when you’re active, here’s how to hide it [The Next Web]
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