Social Media can be very addictive. Oftentimes, we unknowingly find ourselves spending too much time lazily and aimlessly scrolling down the bottomless pit that is our social media feeds.
Acknowledging this problem is the first step to trying to fix this and working towards a sustainable work-life balance. Our phones have screentime metrics with options to actively get us to use them less, and now, social media platforms seem to be getting on board.
Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, has today announced that the company has started testing out a new feature dubbed “Take a Break.” So what does this do? Well, when enabled, this will allow users to remind themselves to take a break from using the app after either 10, 20, or 30 minutes, depending on their preferences.
As a start, though, this Instagram Take a Break feature might have a pretty small reach, as it is currently an opt-in feature. Many users might not be in a position to go through the hassle of setting this up.
The feature builds on Meta’s various well-being tools, with Facebook and Instagram both already offering time-limit reminders to better manage your time in each app. At the same time, Facebook also has a ‘Take a Break‘ option for muting individual users whose posts start to get on your nerves.
We love to see people using technology more responsibly, as everything that brings with it great convenience has the potential to be harmful as well. Too much of anything can make you sick.
We can only hope to see more strict measures popping up because, as it is, all these tools do is offer suggestions to users on what they should be doing. Anyone that really wants to use Instagram excessively can still do so.
