FACEBOOK is set to add a new curfew nudge to Messenger to help phone addicts get off the app and back into reality.
The tech giant is also exploring a similar button on Instagram, that suggests people close the app if they are scrolling on TikTok-style Reels late at night.
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The new feature comes as Meta – the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – tries to give parents more tools to keep their kids internet usage inside safe parameters.
It’s expected to help younger (and older) social media users break free of so-called ‘doom scrolls’ – where people swipe away for hours at a time.
“We want teens to feel good about the time they spend on our apps, which is why we’ve built features like Take a Break,” Meta said in a statement.
“Now, teens will also see a notification when they’ve spent 20 minutes on Facebook, prompting them to take time away from the app and set daily time limits.”
The Take a Break feature let’s users select the amount of time they want to spend on Facebook in a day, and reminds them of when that time is up.
But the new and improved time management tool means a teenager will receive a notification when they’ve spent just 20 minutes on Facebook.
It prompt them to take time away from the app and to set a daily time limit.
20 minutes might sound like a lot of time for one app for some.
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But the teenagers have the average daily screen time of between eight and nine hours a day – with much of that leaking into the night, according to the latest figures from Statista.
The new tool is set to land in Messenger’s Settings in the coming weeks.
In January, Meta introduced Quiet Mode on Instagram in the UK to help people stop reaching for their phones the second they hear a faint ‘ping’.
The feature means users won’t receive any notifications, and anyone who send you a direct message will receive an automated response – and is being rolled out worldwide in the coming weeks.
Alongside the new time management tool, Meta is set to roll out new restrictions to protect people from unwanted DM requests on Instagram.
Users will now be restricted to being able to send one DM request to someone who doesn’t follow them, in a bid to stop harassment and the sending of unsolicited images or videos on the app.
People can only continue to send DMs once the recipient has accepted their request to chat, and these DM requests will also be limited to text-only.
This means people can only send images or videos to someone who doesn’t follow them after the recipient has accepted their request to chat.
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