New Instagram tool urges teenagers to take a break

LONDON — Instagram on Tuesday launched a feature that urges teenagers to take breaks from the photosharing platform and announced other tools aimed at protecting young users from harmful content on the Facebook-owned service.

The previously announced “Take A Break” feature encourages teens to stop scrolling if they have been on the social media platform for a while, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a blog post. It rolled out to the U.S., United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia on Tuesday and would reach the rest of the world early next year, he said.

Instagram will let people opt-in to see pop-up messages when they have spent a lot of time looking at a particular topic, suggesting they explore other subjects. Users also can decide to be nudged to take a break after they have spent 10, 20 or 30 consecutive minutes on the app, Instagram said Tuesday in a blog post. The platform will then remind users about alternative activities to social media such as going for a walk or taking a series of deep breaths, Instagram head of well-being and safety Vaishnavi J said in an interview.

“When you’ve been spending a long period of time — 20 minutes for example being a fairly long period of time — it is very valuable for you to then get a little notification reminding you to take a break,” she said. “You may not feel like you’ve been spending that much time on the app because you’ve been doing five or six different things in those 20 minutes.”

The “Take A Break” feature is one of the efforts Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, has touted on its platforms as it weathers backlash about not doing enough to rein in harmful content and faces new legislation looking to impose restrictions on tech giants.

Instagram also announced its first tools for parents will roll out early next year, allowing them to see how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits.

The social media platform also said it’s developing features that will stop people from tagging or mentioning teens that don’t follow them, nudge young users to other things if they have been focused on one topic for a while and be stricter about what posts, hashtags and accounts it recommends to try to cut down on potentially harmful or sensitive content.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri is scheduled to appear today before a U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating childrens’ safety on social media. Instagram has been under mounting scrutiny over its effects on young users after a Wall Street Journal series earlier this year and other stories from a consortium of media organizations based on internal documents disclosed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Some of the documents surfaced new revelations about Instagram’s effects on teenagers’ body image, sleep and anxiety.

Last month, a group of U.S. state attorneys general announced an investigation into Instagram’s efforts to engage children and young adults.

Haugen has testified to U.S. and European lawmakers working on measures to rein in big technology companies, citing internal company research suggesting that peer pressure generated by Instagram has led to mental health and body-image problems in young users, especially girls, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts.

She spoke again last week to Congress, urging U.S. lawmakers to move forward with proposals introduced after her first appearance in October. That includes restrictions on the long-standing legal protections for speech posted on social media platforms.