Instagram and Facebook are introducing time limits for your social media scrolling habit | City A.M.
Facebook is tackling concerns that too much social media can be bad for our mental health by implementing a few new features inside its app and on Instagram.
Users will be able to view a dashboard of their activity, which will show both the average time and the daily time they’ve spent on the app in the last week.
They can also set the app to buzz them when they go past a predetermined time limit for scrolling time, and use a mute button for notifications to encourage them to stop checking their phone for up to eight hours.
Read more: Instagram is launching a shopping service in the UK today
“We have a responsibility to help people understand how much time they spend on our platforms so they can better manage their experience,” wrote Facebook’s David Ginsberg and Instagram’s Ameet Ranadive in a joint blog post.
“We want the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram to be intentional, positive and inspiring. Our hope is that these tools give people more control over the time they spend on our platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them.”
Facebook published a statement acknowledging the negative effects of spending too much time on social media in December last year.
Read more: Facebook’s share price plunges, losing over $120bn off its market value