PSA: Now You Can Track How Much Time You’re Mindlessly Spending on Social Media
Some days, you quickly check social media on your commute home. And others, you dive deep in the Instagram rabbit hole of checking your BFF’s cousin’s BF’s Christmas photos from 2016. (Don’t worry, we’ve been there too.) Today, all of that changes. Facebook and Instagram just announced tools to help harness and monitor your mindless scrolling time, including an activity dashboard, a daily reminder, and a new way to limit notifications. Translation? We may have just found a permanent fix to our (bad) browsing habits.
The goal of this change is a promising one — to encourage people to pass the time on Facebook and Instagram in a positive way. “Our hope is that these tools give people more control over the time they spend on our platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them,” said Ameet Ranadive, Product Management Director at Instagram and David Ginsberg, Director of Research at Facebook in a recent press release.
The good news is that you can implement these time-saving features ASAP. To do so, head to the settings page on Facebook or Instagram. On Instagram click “Your Activity,” and on Facebook, press “Your Time on Facebook.” From there, you’ll see a dashboard showcasing the time you’re spending. For an added perk, you can activate a daily reminder to flag platform overuse. Or, on the days when you really need to get down to business, head to “Notification Settings” to mute these.
Now excuse us while we go enjoy some undistracted work time!
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(Main photo via Getty; Body Image via Instagram/Facebook)