Too much time scrolling? Instagram now urging teens to 'take a break'

A day before the head of the company is scheduled to tell U.S. lawmakers what it is doing to help keep kids safe online, Instagram is launching a new feature that urges teenagers in Canada and other countries to take breaks from the photo and video sharing platform.

Take A Break is a program that encourages teens who have signed up for it to log off after they have been on the platform for a certain amount of time, according to a Tuesday morning blog post from Instagram head Adam Mosseri. He is scheduled to appear in front of a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.

The company said starting Tuesday, the feature is available to any users between the ages of 13 and 18 based on how they self-reported when they signed up for Instagram.

"If someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time, we'll ask them to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future," Mosseri said. "We'll also show them expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset."

The company did not specify how long someone would have to be on the app before receiving a notification. 

Mosseri said the service will require users to opt into it, but said teens would get "notifications suggesting they turn these reminders on."

He said early test results show that once teens set the reminders, more than 90 per cent of them keep them on.

In addition to nudging teens to take breaks, Instagram says it will also:

The moves are part of efforts that Facebook, renamed Meta Platforms, has touted on as it weathers backlash about not doing enough to rein in harmful content and faces new legislation looking to impose restrictions on tech giants.

Meta owns Instagram.

The service rolls out in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand today and will expand globally next year, Mosseri said.

Instagram plans to roll out another new feature in 2022. That one will allow parents to get alerts about how much time their teens are spending on the service and to limit that time, Mossari said.

The company recently scrapped plans to offer a completely new service for teens, because of growing backlash against the harm that social media can do to young minds.

Mosseri is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection, which decided to look into Facebook's business practices after a whistleblower at the company came forward earlier this year.