Confronting! Facebook and Instagram get a timer

amsterdam - Facebook wants to remind users how much time they spend on social media. The company therefore introduces new functions that keep track of how long people are on Facebook and Instagram. This should ensure that people deal more consciously with their time on social media, so the company motivates the measure. Instagram is the property of Facebook.

One of the functions is a 'dashboard' that indicates how much time you spend on Facebook and Instagram on average and gives precise figures about the last seven days. Users can also indicate how much time they want to spend on Facebook or Instagram. When that period has expired, they get a signal. Finally, users can stop notifications on the phone for a while.

Facebook and other social media companies regularly criticize the way they organize their pages. For example, by making endless scrolling possible, they would encourage addiction. In the Netherlands, young people increasingly experience social media as an addiction, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported this spring.

In an explanation of the novelties, Ameet Ranadive, who is responsible for products for 'well-being' at Facebook, did not mention the word addiction. However, he said that users had asked for ways in which they could get a better grip on the time they spent on social media.