Want to limit your smartphone use? Facebook and Instagram have a plan

Both the companies have introduced an activity dashboard that would show daily average of time spent on the app, along with the settings to set daily reminders and notifications settings

Social media giant Facebook and its online photo sharing platform Instagram on August 1 announced new tools to help people manage their time on their respective apps. Both the companies have introduced an activity dashboard in their respective apps that would show daily average of time spent on the app, along with the settings to set daily reminders and notifications settings. According to the released statement, these tools have been developed based on collaboration and inspiration from leading mental health experts and organisations, academics, and company’s own research and feedback from community.

“We want the time people spend on Instagram and Facebook 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,” said the company in a statement.

To access the tools, go to the settings page on either app. On Instagram, tap “Your Activity,” and on Facebook, tap “Your Time on Facebook.” At the top, you will see a dashboard showing your average time for that app on that device. Tap any bar to see your total time for that day. Below the dashboard, you can set a daily reminder to give yourself an alert when you have reached the amount of time you want to spend on that app for that day. You can change or cancel the reminder at any time. You can also tap on “Notification Settings” to quickly access the new “Mute Push Notifications” setting. This will limit your Instagram or Facebook notifications for a period of time when you need to focus.