The all-new Instagram Restrict feature is here to make your experience on Instagram much better for your mental health. Read ahead to learn more!

It’s no secret that social media has turned into a breeding ground for bullies and trolls. While Twitter is the most poisonous of all, harassers with their nasty remarks are also wreaking havoc on Instagram. Instagram has launched a new tool called Restrict to combat these dangerous concerns that impact mental health awfully. It allows users to silence individuals without blocking them on Instagram. We have gone over the function in detail below, so let’s see how it differs from blocking someone and why you should use it frequently.

Instagram has made several attempts to maneuver trolls on the platform. Efforts like turning comments off and hiding like count so that bullies have less information to harass people have successfully failed them.

But what about those people who you know already and cannot just block them, but simultaneously, you don’t want to interact with them on social media? Instagram has always put itself out to be a platform where people can feel comfortable, and the fact that they are putting so much thought into their user experience is brilliant!

What is Restrict on Instagram?

Instagram encourages and looks up to be the platform where people are comfortable expressing themselves. People post on Instagram in their most vulnerable moments: reaching out to their friends in times of distress, telling the world about their dilemmas expecting someone to give a helping hand.

But when all these nice things exist, bad things do too! Taking advantage of the anonymity that the Internet provides, trolls spoil the user experience of the platform. But can you do that when your business is on the same platform as these trolls are? Mass follow accounts and troll accounts are some example of these troll accounts! More on that, here!

It can be intimidating and exhausting to interact with people online, and these trolls make the lives of content creators even worse. To combat these trolls, Instagram has several new features so that their efforts don’t succeed by the system.

Instagram Restrict, as you guessed it, brings boundaries between you and whoever you restrict on Instagram. Due to the pandemic, we have become closer than ever, thanks to technology and its advancements.

This change has made lives a lot easier for all of us, but some people cherish their distance and want to have boundaries set from others in their lives.

And that is okay. Everyone lives life on their own accord and is free to interact (or not interact) with anyone they’d like!

With the new Restrict function, Instagram is attempting to reduce abuse and harassment on its site. Teens reported in a recent study that they were harassed and tormented daily by both friends and strangers. While you can use the Block tool to mute a stranger, it’s difficult to block someone you know, especially if they’re in your regular social circle. It may aggravate your bullies even more, and it may cause more harm than good.

Not to forget the trolls in our own lives! We cannot get rid of them because they are so close to us but negatively impact our mental health. People resort to Instagram when comfortable in their beds and expect nothing negative that might ruin their mood.

Instagram Restrict feature makes that possible too! It may be most effective against persistent bullies who make nasty comments on a user’s postings. The trolls will still read their post using the technology, but third-party Instagrammers will be unaware of it.

But what do Instagram restrictions actually do to provide you with this experience?

What does Restrict do on Instagram?

If you have ever used instant messaging services like WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger, you are already aware of the Mute button. Twitter has a similar feature that lets you mute people you do not want to hear from without unfollowing them.

Instagram Restrict lets you have a stellar user experience throughout the app without seeing content that you do not want to see. Sure, you can unfollow them. But what about people close to you in real life you don’t want to be close to online? That’s right! You can mute them or restrict them on Instagram, and they won’t interact with you anymore.

Correction: They will interact with you. These trolls could also comment, like, and message you in your DMs and everything else they do to ruin others’ experience on the platform. But none of it will reach you.

Instagram Restrict feature is brilliant in that way! If you do not know about these activities, you will never know that they ever happened, or if they ever happened.

How does that work?

In simple words: Whenever someone you restrict does something, no notification will arrive on your end about said activity. That means that you will be oblivious to the fact that these trolls have done their jobs for the day. Sounds brilliant, doesn’t it?

To put it another way, you can block any commenter you want without their knowledge, which means they’ll keep believing they’re reaching you and your followers even if they aren’t. It’s a decent alternative for people who have continuous difficulties with particular persons for whom banning is ineffective (they can sign up for a new account). However, you can still expect some real-world repercussions from those you’ve limited if they figure it out.

What does it mean to Restrict someone on Instagram?

You have the option of not listening to these jerks. They can leave comments on your posts, send you messages, and tag you in photographs, but none of this will be visible in your notification log.

Their behavior will not warn you in any way, and it will be concealed from your timeline, stories, and anywhere else on Instagram. That’s fantastic! You’re effectively muting someone, both physically and metaphorically. After that, these are the things that would be affected if you restrict an Instagram account:

Notifications: You will receive no updates from people in the restricted list. No matter what they do, if they try to contact you or comment on your posts, they will not be visible in your notification log.

DMs: If you receive messages from strangers usually, there won’t be any apparent changes for you. These messages go straight to the Message Requests folder, for which you get no notifications. If you choose to read these messages in the future, you may! No read receipts will be visible to the other person, neither will they know about your activity status.

Comments: Their comments will only be visible to them. That means you and your followers will not see their remarks until you approve them to be visible to the public.

Instagram isn’t the first social media platform to suggest an anti-bullying solution. Likes may be removed from social networking platforms by the platform and its parent company, Facebook. According to CNN, it will happen in August to minimize rivalry for attention on the social networks.

Instagram Restrict is more like a one-way mirror that was not visible before. They will, as usual, see that user’s postings on their feed. They will, however, no longer be able to see whether or not the user is online or has seen their messages. That user will also have more control behind the scenes. The aim is to create some distance between you and them.

The importance of online bullying, especially among younger user groups, cannot be emphasized. Instagram can test or implement them because each trial takes us closer to better solutions in this area.

Restrict is also intended to create “friction” with tags and mentions, making it more difficult for a troll to track you down and torment you. When someone tries to tag or mention another user on Instagram, it will usually suggest handles. However, if a bully wants to pin a user who has restricted them, they must first learn their username and type it out completely.

Regardless of how comprehensive Instagram is, one challenge it has is ensuring that users know of the tools it offers. In the past, the business has released various tools to assist users from trolls, such as a filter that hides comments that include specific keywords that a user specifies, instead people are still unaware that such tools exist.

So, the question might just be, how do you restrict users on Instagram? And the answer is simple! Let’s find out! There are other tools you might want to check out on Instagram, check them out here!

How to Restrict Someone on Instagram

To restrict someone on Instagram, you can follow the steps down below. Additionally, you may visit Facebook’s support center from here.

There are various ways to use the Instagram Restrict option. While all of them do the same thing, it is accessible from different sources for ease of access.

You may restrict someone through:

Your messages:
- Press on the chatbox of the person you want to restrict.
- Tap the name of the person.
- Click on Restrict and when asked for a confirmation, tap on Restrict Account.
From your comments section:
- Swipe left on the comment if you are on an iPhone to make your options visible. On Android phones, tap the comment and hold on it for a while.
- Tap on Restrict and confirm when the popup shows up.
From your settings:

On your settings page, click on Privacy.
Right below connections, you will find another option called Restricted Accounts.

Search for the account you would like to Restrict on the app. Tap restrict next to their username to add them to the list.
From their profile:
- Navigate to the profile you want to restrict.

Tap on the hamburger menu on the top right corner of their profile.
Tap on Restrict.
Press on Restrict again in the next popup dialog box to confirm.

And there you go! Instagram’s Restrict feature has improved the user experience on the app by a lot! As more and more people know about this feature, hopefully, these trolls will learn to control themselves too! Instagram and all the other platforms on the internet make our lives better, not make us question our choices for the betterment of our mental health.

Also Read:
Increase Engagement In 10 Steps With Auto Comments Instagram
The Best Instagram Tools You Should Try In 2022
How To View Previously Liked Posts On Instagram?

There are third-party applications that provide these functionalities too! One of them is Socinator. Socinator is an all-in-one marketing software for content creators and marketers on Instagram.

Not only Instagram, Socinator supports various major platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, Facebook, Youtube, etc.

Socinator comes with a Block Follower feature that goes a little further than the Instagram Restrict feature. You may set filters that your followers need to pass to follow you, and if they do not meet those requirements, Socinator will automatically block them.

Instagram is home to not only trolls and frauds but also fake accounts scamming users for their benefit. These users are harmful to the reach and the engagement on your profile. They harm your impressions and your followers too! Socinator understands the intensity of this situation and eliminates these users from interacting with your profile. You can also use Socinator to schedule your Instagram posts! More on that here!

Socinator has several other tools that make your Instagram experience so much easier!

Auto-follow back feature: Automatically follow back those who are following you, so no one goes ignored!

Auto-Publish Posts: With SociNator, scheduling Instagram posts for audiences on the other side of the world is simple!

Auto Comment: Don’t forget about your viewers! By auto-responding to their remarks, you may respond to them promptly.

Automated Engagement: In addition to the ones listed above, engage with your audience in a seamless and hassle-free manner by interacting with them, like and following them back automatically!

Live Chat: Use Socinator’s GUI to chat with your audience in real-time, which allows you to do a lot more than Instagram’s basic chat.

Here’s a video to introduce you to our app!