WHY NOT MUTE ALL THOSE IRRITATING ACCOUNTS ON INSTAGRAM?

The hardest part of social media punishments in the 'unfriend' part, but Instagram is rolling out yet another new feature, the mute button.

The mute button allows you to remove other users from your feed without unfollowing them. Much like Facebook and Twitter – who already have similar features – the addition permits greater control over the curation of what you see.

The addition comes at a time when Instagram co-founder, Kevin Systrom, recently confirmed rumours and speculation that Instagram is "jumping into the time-well-spent movement".

Whilst muting an account removes the user from your feed, you can still see posts on their profile page and get notified of comments or posts you’re tagged in.

Of course, the accounts you mute will not be aware that you’ve muted them, saving your sanity but also your friendships, and you can always unmute them when you want.

Some power users – including those for whom Instagram is a source of income – have complained that the platform is not responsive enough to their feedback. A sticking point for many of those users is the algorithm introduced in 2016: It scrambles the order in which posts appear in users' feeds.

Instagram's latest mute button might just be something the world both wans and desperately needs...