It’s common to see people remove their profile pictures and revert to the default blank silhouette on a gray background.
Recently, singer-songwriter Moira Dela Torre changed the profile picture on her social media profiles to the default blank silhouette, including her 4.8-million-follower Instagram page and 6.4-million-follower Facebook page. The picture has since received thousands of reactions, comments, and shares, as well as thousands of speculations.
This begs the question, why do people do that? Removing their profile pictures.
So, I searched the Internet to find the answer (or possible answers) to this question and, in a way, better understand them. Here are some that I found.
1. They are taking a break from social media.
When I searched Google, asking why people change their profile pictures to blank, their Gen AI tool suggested that they may be taking a break from social media, possibly from the scrutiny they feel online, and that they’ll be back.
Thinking about it, when people want to quit social media temporarily or for good, they usually deactivate or permanently delete their profiles. They don’t change their profile pictures to blank. That’s how we, Millennials, used to do it. I’m not sure about the younger generations.
2. Something big happened.
In a TikTok post with over 1.2 million views, toomuchfrankie said that when someone suddenly changes their picture after a long time, something diabolical may have happened, or they may be going through a character development arc, or they may be becoming a new person.
It’s a valid point because we’ve seen people change their profile pictures on social media to blank while going through some personal development seasons.
3. They are going through “something.”
TikToker ajarcenall believes that people who don’t have a profile picture are either sad or are going through “something,” which often always means negatively, like a low point in their lives. This is another common narrative we get whenever people suddenly remove their profile picture.
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4. Something big is coming.
In connection with Moira’s sudden change of profile picture to blank, many people, particularly her fans, suggest that she may be preparing to drop another one of her sad love songs and that the changes on her profile are a marketing scheme.
5. Self-consciousness about their physical appearance.
Another reason why people are removing their profile pictures and replacing them with a blank or default DP is due to self-consciousness about how they look, especially if they think they are unattractive.
While social media has some positive aspects, unfortunately, it can also be harsh to people’s self-esteem, especially as it becomes a gallery of people’s best portraits, setting off insecurity in others.
6. Joining the “Grid Zero” Trend
Another interesting term I found while researching this article is what is called “Grid Zero,” where people, generally led by Gen Z, are hiding all their photos on their Instagram profiles, creating a blank grid.
This is the way for the younger digital natives to try to take back control of their online presence and protect their privacy, leading to the next possible reason.
7. Privacy concerns
On the r/NoStupidQuestions subreddit, Redditor threedirtypirates88 asked, “What does it mean when someone has a blank/default profile picture on social media but is they actively use the account?” The most common answer is related to privacy.
Reddit user holdmybeer2279 mentioned that until just 15 years ago, nobody posted their pictures on the Internet for random people to see. However, that changed with the rise in social media popularity, particularly Facebook.
So, some people may scrape their faces on social media because they realize that their privacy is at stake.
Based on the reasons listed above, it’s safe to say that the only person who can answer why they removed or changed their profile pictures to default is the profile owner themselves.
At the end of the day, we can only speculate about what may have triggered the change of their picture to default. It may be to take a break from social media, something terrible may have happened, something big may be about to happen, or due to privacy concerns.