Every social media app is missing this one simple feature

Ryan Houk
4 min readNov 10, 2022
an incognito user with hat and glasses peering through an i phone

The problem

OK, everyone, this is going to be a quick one. Social media apps are in need of a new feature. No, not augmented reality or social video shopping. It’s something much simpler. A feature that would eliminate all kinds of petty annoyances and stressors when navigating various apps. But first let me paint you a few scenarios:

The accidental creeper

Bored, you open Instagram and its algorithm reaches deep into your past. It suggests following an old friend from high school. It’s been fifteen years since you last saw this person! Curious, you begin perusing their photos and stories. Oh dammit! An accidental tap and you liked one of their photos. Now your friend whom you’ve not spoken with for years just got a notification at 12 AM that you liked their photo.

The stop sending me cute videos

You’re watching your mind-numbing TikToks when your friend sends you some adorable video of kids doing kid stuff. “Aw that was cute” you think to yourself. The next day you open TikTok and your feed is inundated with parenting and kids’ videos.

The “oh c’mon, I’m not THAT into golf”

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Ryan Houk
Ryan Houk

Written by Ryan Houk

Product designer of 15+ years — I write about tech & design.