Instagram announces ‘Take a Break’ feature to help users better manage their social media experience

The 'Take a Break' is a feature that will show up for people, as they have been scrolling for a certain amount of time. They will be asked to take a break from Instagram and will be suggested to take more breaks in the future.

Instagram has announced the launch of ‘Take a Break’ in all countries, including India, to empower people to make informed decisions about the way they are spending their time, ahead of Safer Internet Day 2022.

'Take a Break’ is a feature that will show up for people, as they have been scrolling for a certain amount of time. They will be asked to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future. They will also be shown expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset. To make sure that young people are aware of this feature, they will be shown notifications suggesting they turn these reminders on.

The reminders of the feature are built on Instagram’s existing time management tools including daily limit, which lets people know when they have reached the total amount of time they want to spend on Instagram each day and offers the ability to mute notifications from Instagram. ‘Take a Break’ was first launched in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and it is now available for everyone globally. 

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Natasha Jog, Public Policy Manager, Instagram, Facebook India, comments, “The wellbeing 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. With this context, we’ve launched ‘Take a Break’, to meaningfully improve the experience on Instagram for young people, parents, and guardians. 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 feature will be amplified through a campaign with ‘We The Young’, a youth-focused community, called ‘Break Zaroori Hai’. The campaign will last for a month and will highlight situations where young people could use this feature. ‘We The Young’ will work with creators, mental health experts, and other stakeholders to produce multilingual content that will emphasize the need to make informed decisions about the time spent on the platform, and inform users on ways to incorporate the 'Take A Break' feature with their social media routine.

Charit Jaggi, Founder, We The Young, added, “We understand that Instagram is integral to how young people socialize today and it is thus important to safeguard their digital experience. 'Take A Break' is very relevant for them, and together with our campaign ‘Break Zaroori Hai’ we hope to encourage young people across the country to actively take control of their online experience."

The feature ‘Take a Break’ will be available on iOS immediately and will roll out to Android in a few weeks.