Instagram introduces new nightly boosts for teen accounts to limit their time on the app, the company was announced on Thursday. The new nighttime pushes will appear when teens spend more than 10 minutes on Instagram in places like Reels or DM late at night. The notification will remind teens that it’s late and encourage them to close the app and go to sleep.
Teens will start seeing a notification that says “Time for a break?” followed by the message “It’s late. Consider closing Instagram for the evening.” The social network told TechCrunch in an email that the pushes will appear after 10 p.m. Of course, teens have the option to simply dismiss the push and continue using the app .
Image Credits: Instagram
TikTok launched a similar feature last March that also reminds users when it’s time to quit the app and go to sleep.
The new nightly pushes join Instagram’s other features aimed at reducing the time teenagers spend on the app. The app already has a “Take a Break” feature that shows teens full-screen reminders to take regular breaks from Instagram, and a “Quiet Mode” feature that lets teens mute notifications and alert others that they’re not are available for a period of time.
Last week, Meta announced that it was going to automatically limit the type of content teens can see on Instagram and Facebook. Teen accounts will be automatically restricted from viewing harmful content, such as posts about self-harm, graphic violence and eating disorders.
The new teen safety features come as Meta faces regulatory pressure to do more to protect children. The company is scheduled to testify before the Senate on child safety on January 31. Executives from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Snap and Discord will also testify. Committee members are expected to press company executives over the failure of their platforms to protect children online.
In addition, more than 40 states are suing Meta, alleging that the company’s apps contribute to the mental health problems of young users. Meta also received another formal request for information (RFI) from European Union regulators seeking more information about the company’s response to child safety concerns on Instagram.
Today’s announcement comes a day after TechCrunch reported that internal Meta child safety documents revealed that Meta not only intentionally marketed its apps to children, but was also aware of the significant amount of inappropriate and sexual content being shared between adults and minors. .
