Facebook and Instagram said they have come up with new tools to tackle the very problem that can well be said to be of their own creation, that of social media addiction.
However, with the new tools available with the respective apps, the company said they now believe the issue, if it can be so said, can be dealt with effectively.
The approach for both Facebook and Instagram is, however, the same, that of making the users better informed of their activities on the site along with the duration they choose to spend on either app. That is not all as there will also be the option to limit the number of notifications that each apps would serve and so on.
Users will also have the option to set a time limit that they wish to spend on the site, with an alert issued the moment the limit is reached.
Then there is going to be sort of a do-not-disturb setting as well where a user can set a time span during which users can mute their friends or turn notifications off.
All this should help the user become better aware of their online antics on the two apps and put in limitations in a manner that they feel would help curb their longing for both apps. The company also stated the new tools have been designed in close collaboration with mental health experts to ensure users aren’t exposed to unnecessary risks that the social media sites are believed to pose to the users.
The new tools come on the backdrop of an earlier remark made by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about how they wish to improve the quality of time that users spend on the site. The CEO also said the above needs to be adhered to even if that boils down to users spending less time on Facebook. In fact, this makes for a tricky situation for the social media giant as the majority of its resources comes from advertising on the site. And the more time people spend on the site, more will be the revenue.
The challenge for Facebook will be of course to strike a fine balance between curbing social media addiction while also ensuring enough viewership to allow for revenue growth.
