Temporary Instagram DM blocking could guard against cyberbullying

Instagram may be testing a new feature disallowing users from screenshotting DMs that are only meant to be viewed once. "View Once" messages aren't meant to be saved, and this could help put an extra safeguard in place for those who may want to exploit that.

Let's look at this in terms of cyberbullying (though, of course, screenshots can be used for much worse on the app or any social media platform).

According to cyberbullying statistics, the issue is all too common -- and likely getting worse the longer things like social media are around. The more accessible these platforms and apps become to younger people, the easier it becomes to turn a few mean comments into irreversible devastation.

On Instagram, for example, someone could very quickly take a screenshot of what the other party assumed was a private conversation and make it very, very public. If this has never happened to you, you may not even know it could happen to you ... until it already has.

Setting messages to View Once in a vulnerable moment and having Instagram prevent these messages being saved through a screenshot would not undo cyberbullying entirely. People who want to bully other people will go to great lengths to do so.

But even just having Instagram notify you if a screenshot of your message was taken, at the very least, is one step toward raising awareness of how someone else might be interacting with your private messages.

The best rule to follow on the internet is, of course, to avoid sending something you wouldn't want everyone to see. You just never know what could happen. But not everyone knows that, and maybe social media platforms really can help keep some people safer who genuinely may not know any better.