Instagram is testing a 'Take a Break' feature that will remind users to take a break from social media. This feature was announced directly by the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri.
Through a video uploaded on Twitter, Mosseri explained that this feature will remind users to take a break if they have spent a long time playing Instagram. Users can activate this feature and set their own time, which is 10, 20, or 30 minutes.
"If you activate it, this feature will encourage you to pause after you have spent a certain amount of time in the application; 10, 20, or 30 minutes," Mosseri said in the video, as quoted from The Verge, Friday (12/11/2021).
From the video that Mosseri uploaded, Instagram will display a notification to activate this feature in the feed, but it is not displayed in full on the screen. So it is possible that users can miss this notification if they are scrolling fast.
After seeing this reminder, the user can activate it by tapping the 'turn on' option. Users will then be asked to choose how much time they will spend on Instagram before receiving a reminder to take a break.
Take a Break feature view on the Instagram app Photo: Instagram/Adam Mosseri
The reminder will appear after the specified time along with suggested activities the user can do such as taking a breath, writing thoughts, listening to a favorite song, or doing something on the to-do-list.
The Take a Break trial was announced at a time when Instagram and its parent company Meta (formerly known as Facebook) were in the limelight after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before the US Congress about internal Facebook documents showing Instagram's harmful effects on teens.
In an internal Facebook study, teenage users claimed to feel addicted to using Instagram, but could not control themselves to reduce their use of Instagram even though they wanted to reduce the frequency of opening the application.
The development of this feature has also been revealed by several Meta officials, one of which is Vice President of Global Affairs Meta Nick Clegg. In an interview with CNN last month, Clegg said he was developing Take a Break and other similar features with teenage users in mind.
Mosseri said the Take a Break feature is currently being tested with a small group of Instagram users starting this week. If the test is satisfactory, this feature will be rolled out publicly in December.
