Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri announced on Wednesday that the social media platform would be putting to beta-testing a new feature called 'Take A Break'. As the name suggests, the feature would let users take a break after using the app for a certain amount of time - which could be for ten, twenty or thirty minutes.
As per Mosseri, Instagram worked with third-party experts to design the feature.
The social media platform would be rolling out the feature to a limited number of users for beta-testing in the next couple of days. Based on the users' feedback, it will either wind the project down or roll out the feature to everyone, potentially in December.
"(The feature) is part of a broader effort to try and give people more control over their experience on Instagram. Ultimately, you know what's best for you when it comes to how you use the app," said the Instagram chief. He added that the idea is to provide tools that let users decide what works for them.
Mosseri added the platform would be coming with similar ideas in the future too.
The feature being put to test is much different from the one rolled out by the 'Meta' universe app, Facebook. Unlike Instagram, the feature lets you limit one's ability to see your posts and posts you are tagged in. Additionally, reducing their visibility on your news feed.
Earlier in September, Meta-owned Instagram had paused 'The Instagram Kids' project. However, it added that it would continue to build opt-in parental supervision tools for teens. Information on the enhanced supervision tools would be shared in the coming months.
"While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we’ve decided to pause this project. This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today," its blog post read.
In a separate development, Facebook rebranded itself into 'Meta' on October 28. The company mentioned that it was a step further towards building what they called an extension of the online world called the 'metaverse'. "The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world, " it said.
Instagram's latest feature is much in line with beverage maker Coca Cola's 2013 marketing campaign asking people to not drink the beverage. It speaks of calorie content in the aerated beverage along with the use of artificial sweeteners which could potentially lead to obesity. The idea behind the stay-away campaign was to rank higher in what advertisers usually refer to as 'mind recall'.
