Seemingly acting like a response to the current restricted movement order, Instagram recently added the Co-Watching feature for all users to enjoy.

Co-Watching is as its name implies. Either you or your friend will be able to co-watch posts either one has liked, saved or select something from the explore tab.

Up to six people can be in the video call and will be able to laugh, cry, or gossip with posts anyone shares.

This adds another way for friends or family to stay connected while maintaining their social distance during this challenging time.

Social media users could also take advantage of this feature as a way to further interact with their followers. Only six people can be in a call, though, so I guess they’ll need to figure out a way to creatively handle that limitation.

There’s a small problem, though.

I’ve tried out the feature myself and while it can be entertaining to share funny posts with each other, there is something I do think should be addressed.

Anyone can share a post, at any time. There isn’t a way to stop someone or yourself from sharing a post.

So for example, if someone shared a video and everyone is in the middle of watching, you could interrupt it by sharing a post on your end.

If you want to watch that video again, it’ll play from the start, as that’s how video posts work on Instagram. Or if someone was in the middle of reading a meme, it could also be interrupted just as quickly.

I could see how that could may lead to upset users, and, well, could unintentionally cause unnecessary friction between friends.

Of course, the easy way to deal with this is just don’t share anything while someone else is sharing.

Or maybe Instagram should try to address that by including pop-ups that indicate a switch is happening, or something like that. That’s just what I think, though.

Despite that, it’s certainly a nice addition during our current situation. I’m not so sure about how it’ll be after that, though.

For one, it will definitely have people interact with others more rather than passively consuming content alone.

It could, however, potentially become the norm for groups of friends to use it as a way to “hang-out”, instead of actually hanging out.

In times like these, that’s understandable. But when all is safe and sound, maybe try to actually go out instead of sticking your faces in front of your phones?

At the end of the day, it’s a welcome addition, but remember to actually socialise.