Facebook and Instagram introduce tool to help curb smartphone addiction

Users can now set a daily reminder to give themselves an alert when they’ve reached the amount of time they want to spend on the app for the day.

The social network also introduced two additional tools: an activity dashboard and a new way to limit notifications.

The tools were said to be developed based on collaboration and inspiration from leading mental health experts and organizations, academics, Facebook’s extensive research, and feedback from its community. 

In a post, Ameet Ranadive, Product Management Director at Instagram, and David Ginsberg, Director of Research at Facebook, said:

“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.”

To access the tools, go to the settings page on either app. On Instagram, tap “Your Activity,” and on Facebook, tap “Your Time on Facebook.” At the top, you’ll see a dashboard showing your average time for that app on that device. Tap any bar to see your total time for that day.

You can change or cancel the reminder at any time. You can also tap on “Notification Settings” to quickly access the new “Mute Push Notifications” setting. This will limit your Facebook or Instagram notifications for a period of time when you need to focus.

Hopefully, this does translate into less smartphone addiction.