Instagram is making marks in the social media world, and though it does face criticism here and there, the tech firm never gets demotivated to do better.
Instagram recently announced that it is launching a feature which will help users limit and control their time on the application. The feature is called ‘Take a Break,’ and according to Instagram will ask or alert users to take a break or stop using the application, after they have been using it for 10 to 30 minutes.
The Take a break feature was in process for some time now. The tech firm first gave its hint back when it was addressing allegations related to the app being a source of mental health issues and people feeling not good about themselves.
In short, this is an effort by the tech giant to combat the same mental health issues whose allegations it was trying to address.
However, while Instagram maybe trying to make people care about their mental health and limit their usage of the app, the feature may not be that impactful.
This because instead of being a by default feature, the tech firm has made it an opted one. Users can decide and enable the option according to their needs. This comes of the same way as the Like count option which Instagram though released on default mode when in Beta version, but changed it back to user preferences. Users now themselves decide if they want to see the like count on others or not. Since that feature has gone on choice based, users have barely opted for it.
From the looks of it, people will also barely opt for the Instagram Take a break feature. The reason for this is not only it being an optional feature, but also because Apple and Android devices already offer options which help people limit their usage.
Many people believe that this is Instagram is only pretending of being an advocate for mental health by introducing some basic features. One example which was given as a proof for this was that the tech firm last year introduced their ‘You are all caught up’ notification. This message lets people know that they have already scrolled through all stuff on their feed from the past two days. However, last year, it started showing suggested posts and ads below to keep people engaged.
If Instagram really wanted to tackle mental health issues online, there are far better resources and many other better ideas which they can implement. However, who knows, they might come around in the future.
Read next: Instagram Discontinues Threads, Updates Stories and More
Instagram recently announced that it is launching a feature which will help users limit and control their time on the application. The feature is called ‘Take a Break,’ and according to Instagram will ask or alert users to take a break or stop using the application, after they have been using it for 10 to 30 minutes.
The Take a break feature was in process for some time now. The tech firm first gave its hint back when it was addressing allegations related to the app being a source of mental health issues and people feeling not good about themselves.
In short, this is an effort by the tech giant to combat the same mental health issues whose allegations it was trying to address.
Testing “Take a Break” 🧑🔬
— Adam Mosseri 😷 (@mosseri) November 10, 2021
We started testing a new feature called “Take a Break” this week. This opt-in control enables you to receive break reminders in-app after a duration of your choosing.
I’m excited to dig into the results & hopefully launch this sometime in December. ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/WdSTjL6ZdH
However, while Instagram maybe trying to make people care about their mental health and limit their usage of the app, the feature may not be that impactful.
This because instead of being a by default feature, the tech firm has made it an opted one. Users can decide and enable the option according to their needs. This comes of the same way as the Like count option which Instagram though released on default mode when in Beta version, but changed it back to user preferences. Users now themselves decide if they want to see the like count on others or not. Since that feature has gone on choice based, users have barely opted for it.
From the looks of it, people will also barely opt for the Instagram Take a break feature. The reason for this is not only it being an optional feature, but also because Apple and Android devices already offer options which help people limit their usage.
Many people believe that this is Instagram is only pretending of being an advocate for mental health by introducing some basic features. One example which was given as a proof for this was that the tech firm last year introduced their ‘You are all caught up’ notification. This message lets people know that they have already scrolled through all stuff on their feed from the past two days. However, last year, it started showing suggested posts and ads below to keep people engaged.
If Instagram really wanted to tackle mental health issues online, there are far better resources and many other better ideas which they can implement. However, who knows, they might come around in the future.