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Ahead of Safer Internet Day 2022, Instagram has expanded its ‘Take a Break’ feature in all countries, including India.
Announced earlier this week, the launch is to help users make informed decisions about the way they are spending their time. The opt-in feature gives users a reminder to take some time off after they’ve spent a certain amount of time on the platform.
Instagram began testing the feature in November last year. ‘Take a Break’ was first launched in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and it is now available for everyone globally.
When a user opts the feature, it encourages them to take a break from Instagram after they spend a certain amount of time on the app, for instance, 10, 20 or 30-minute intervals. Users will be asked to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future.
“They will also be shown expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset. To make sure that young people are aware of this feature, they will be shown notifications suggesting they turn these reminders on,” Instagram explained in an official release.
Natasha Jog, Public Policy Manager, Instagram, Facebook India, commented, “The wellbeing of young people is important to us, and we’re focused on ensuring that the time spent on Instagram is intentional and people feel good about it.”
“With this context, we’ve launched ‘Take a Break’, to meaningfully improve the experience on Instagram for young people, parents and guardians. We aim to continue our work to create a safe and supportive environment on Instagram, so young people can use it to explore their interests, and find community,” added Jog.
The feature will be promoted in India through a campaign, in partnership with ‘We The Young ’, called ‘Break Zaroori Hai’. The one month campaign will highlight situations where young people could use this feature.
‘We The Young’ will work with creators, mental health experts and other stakeholders to produce multilingual content emphasising the need to make informed decisions about the time spent on the platform, and inform users on ways to incorporate the ‘Take A Break’ feature with their social media routine, Instagram said.
Charit Jaggi, Founder, We The Young, added, “We understand that Instagram is integral to how young people socialise today and it is important to safeguard their digital experience. ‘Take A Break’ is very relevant for them, and together with our campaign ‘Break Zaroori Hai’ we hope to encourage young people across the country to actively take control of their online experience.”
The reminders build on Instagram’s existing time management tools including Daily Limit, which lets people know when they’ve reached the total amount of time they want to spend on Instagram each day, and offers the ability to mute notifications from Instagram.
The feature ‘Take a Break’ will be available on iOS immediately, and will roll out to Android in a few weeks.
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