Instagram is going to notify you when you’re spending too much time on the app

Say what now?

Surely Instagram would want us to spend more time on the app, but it doesn't appear so. According to Cosmopolitan, Instagram is adding a new feature where it will tell you when you're spending too much time on the app. It comes after numerous studies showed that spending too much time on social media can cause anxiety, depression as well as leading onto eating disorders. The new feature announced today, by both Instagram and Facebook, will show users the average time they are spending on the app each week. The new tool will ask you to put in how long you think is best to spend on the app. When you reach that time limit, you will get a notification to say your time is up. Of course, you can choose to ignore the notification, or you can also move the time limit up if you are surpassing it everyday. Another new feature will see you be able to mute notifications for a certain amount of time, so if you don't want to go on the app, you won't receive any mentions (which obviously urge you to check your phone). Ameet Ranadive, the product management director at Instagram, and David Ginsberg, the director of research at Facebook said: "We want the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram to be intentional, positive and inspiring. "Our hope is that these tools give people more control over the time they spend on our platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them."