Instagram is taking further precaution for the youth’s online safety.

To further ensure that teen users are protected and to ease worry on their parents’ end, the social media app has launched new tools and features including a “Take A Break” feature, according to an Instagram blog post.

The latest feature aims to “empower people to make informed decisions about how they’re spending their time,” Head of the tech giant, Adam Mosseri, wrote.

“If someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time, we’ll ask them to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future,” he continued. 

How "Take A Break" Works

Teen users are notified by Instagram with a suggestion to set their reminders for future breaks. They’re also provided with expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset.

“We welcome Instagram’s new Take A Break feature, which we hope will be a meaningful way to encourage healthy social media use, particularly among younger users,” Boris Radanović, UK Safer Internet Centre, shared in a statement. “Whilst taking regular breaks from screens has been challenging recently, it has been good advice for many years, and initiatives that encourage this are to be supported. We will continue to work with Instagram in this regard and hope that this represents a step in the right direction.”

The “Take A Break” feature has launched in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. In addition, Mosseri confirmed that the feature will get to everyone by early 2022.

Additional Features For Teens

According to the blog post, Instagram is also developing these new features:

  • Stop people from tagging or mentioning teens that don’t follow them
  • Stricter guidelines about what‘s recommend to teens in their Search, Explore, Hashtags and Suggested Accounts
  • Start nudging teens toward different topics if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a while

Tools On The Way For Parents & Guardians

Starting in March 2022, the first tools for parents and guardians will launch, including a new option for them to be notified when their children or loved ones report someone.

To help the adults better support their young ones, Instagram has also announced a new educational hub in the works, which will include additional resources for understanding social media.