Facebook launches new tools to manage the time spent on the platforms: you will be able to set reminders and block the receipt of notifications
After years of complaints and research, companies like Facebook have begun to worry about the time users spend on social platforms. Born as tools to stay in touch with friends, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp have become unwieldy presences in the lives of millions of people.
Younger people in particular spend dozens and dozens of hours each week on these platforms: a Story on Instagram, a voice message on WhatsApp and a post on Facebook have become the usual triptych of every boy/girl. Apps and smartphones have made it even easier to access social platforms: in bed before going to sleep, at school during lessons and in the bathroom in the morning before washing up. Many people have become addicted to the smartphone-social network combo and fail to realize how much time they spend on this activity.
Psychologists, doctors and educators have repeatedly sounded the alarm: too many hours are spent on a smartphone sending messages on WhatsApp and posting photos on Instagram. Facebook seems to have gotten the message and has announced the arrival of new tools that will allow you to better manage the time you spend on Instagram and on Facebook itself.
How the tools work to manage time on Facebook and Instagram
To control the time you spend on Facebook you need to click on the tool "Your time on Facebook", while on Instagram on "Your activity". Both tools can be found within the settings of your personal profile. Once you click on the tool, you will be logged into an interactive dashboard where the average time spent on the social application is shown. Browsing through the dashboard, you will be able to find out day by day the hours spent on Facebook and Instagram.
To put a stop to the too many hours spent by youngsters on social platforms, the developers have introduced a daily reminder that sends an alert when you have exceeded the maximum time you want to spend on the application. For example, if you set a maximum time of one hour to devote to the social platform, once you exceed sixty minutes the application will send an alert.
But that's not all. Facebook and Instagram have added the ability to turn off notifications for a short period of time, so you don't lose focus. By going inside Notification Settings, you will be able to enable Disable Notifications and for a short period of time you will not be disturbed by your friends' messages.
With these new tools Facebook hopes to put a brake on the immoderate use of its social platforms. Mark Zuckerberg's company's goal is to decrease the amount of time users spend on Facebook and Instagram to make it more intentional, positive and inspiring.