Instagram Will Now Help You To 'Take A Break', Limits & Reminders In-Store

Spending time on Instagram has been steadily increasing for all; there has been a consensus that it has touched unhealthy proportions. Instagram is now taking its 'Take A Break' feature worldwide, including India. It was launched in select markets like the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand three months ago. As the name implies, this new feature reminds users to take a break from the application if they have been scrolling for a specific amount of time and proposes that they set reminders to take additional breaks in the future.

Since November last year, the Meta-owned platform has been testing out this new feature. It also builds on the platform's time management instruments such as 'Daily Limit', allowing users to set reminders to alert them how much time they have spent on Instagram.

Instagram's 'Take A Break' New Feature

Instagram stated that the feature is available on iOS devices and plans to roll out on Android devices in a few weeks.

The video and picture sharing platform had announced 'Take A Break' in December 2021, along with a handful of new features aimed at making the platform safer for teenagers, amid scrutiny over leaked internal research that said the app adversely affected some young people users.

"We aim to continue our work to create a safe and supportive environment on Instagram, so young people can use it to explore their interests and find community. The well-being of young people is important to us, and we're focused on ensuring that the time spent on Instagram is intentional and people feel good about it," said Natasha Jog, public policy manager, Instagram, Facebook India was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.

According to data from 2018, people on average spend 53 minutes a day on Instagram, the platform according to the same data is visited by 500 Million people uploading 95 Million Photos and 250 Million stories each day. Such is the magnitude of the time spent by people on Instagram. Time spent on social media has often been linked to many psychological impacts like low self-esteem, Isolation, depression, lack of affection among many more.

Has Social Media Gone Past Its Peak?

This new feature launch comes on the heels of Facebook reporting its first-ever quarterly decline of daily users on February 2. While Meta does not supply Instagram's quarterly user base, daily users across its family of applications went up narrowly from 2.81 billion to 2.82 billion for Q4 2021.

Furthermore, Meta also lost USD 230 billion market value in one single day on February 3, making it the biggest one-day loss for an American company.

Also Read: Punjab CM's Nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey Arrested By ED In Sand Mining Case