Facebook

Instagram’s solution to its teen problem? A new “take a break” feature

In response to the backlash surrounding Instagram and teens, the platform is looking at features that promote better content for teenagers.

by
Alex Gatewood
October 11, 2021

Image: KnowTechie

Giveaway: Enter to win a BLUETTI Charger 1 ($399 value): Enter Here

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

It has been quite the last few weeks for Facebook and its sister company Instagram after a Facebook whistleblower revealed all sorts of negative internal documents. Now, Instagram has said that it is working on features the encourage users to “take a break,” as well as push them away from harmful content.

Part of the documents revealed by the Facebook whistleblower shows how Instagram has a negative effect on some teens on the platform. In addition to canceling its plans for Instagram specifically for kids, the platform has also responded with a promise that some new features aimed at providing better content for teens are on the way.

In an interview with CNN, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg told reporters that Instagram is working on a couple of new features that promote healthier content as we speak.

The first feature aims to “nudge” teens away from looking at negative content too often. Clegg says that the platform is working on a feature that will “nudge [teens] to look at other content,” whenever it detects that they are consuming negative content too often.

“We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenagers is looking at the same content over and over again, and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well being, we will nudge them to look at other content,” Clegg said.

The other feature supposedly encourages teens to take a break from Instagram altogether. Clegg says that in addition to extra parental controls, this feature will encourage teens to “simply take a break from using Instagram.”

That is an interesting feature, considering that everything Facebook has ever done has been in an effort to keep people on the platform no matter what. Could we finally be seeing a shift in Facebook’s strategy where it finally becomes responsible for its actions? Yea, right.

Clegg didn’t give any timeline for when we could expect these Instagram features. In fact, the company told The Verge that it wasn’t even in testing phases yet, but that it would be “soon.”

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.