Facebook And Instagram Launch Tools to Aid Social Media Addicts

Facebook and Instagram are introducing tools to help encourage users to log … off.

Already available to U.S. users and rolling out globally in the coming weeks, the new “activity dashboard” hopes to encourage healthy engagement with the social media sites and cut down on “passive scrolling” and its negative health effects.

Designed to promote “intentional” and “mindful” use of the platforms, the activity dashboard allows users to chart how much time they’ve spent using Facebook or Instagram by the day or week as well as set reminders to get off the platforms. Push notifications can also be disabled.

Developed with input from mental health experts, academics, internal research, and community feedback, the tools should be useful for adult users as well as parents of younger ones.

A look at the new tool Facebook has released to help users manage their time. (Facebook)

“It’s not just about the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram but how they spend that time,” according to a press release. “It’s our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people – and we take that responsibility seriously. These new tools are an important first step.”