Facebook launches ‘Your Time’ tool to check if you have a social media ADDICTION
The new feature lets you see how much time you spend on Facebook each day, although the reminders you can set with it can be easily ignored
FACEBOOK is now letting you check whether you're addicted to its social network, after introducing a new dashboard that clocks how much time smartphone users spend on average on its app each day.
The new "Your Time on Facebook" tool also lets users set limits on how much time they can spend on the site, with Facebook sending reminders to them to take a break once their chosen limits have passed.
Facebook first announced the "Your Time on Facebook" feature in August, when it announced that a similar time-management feature would also be made available for Instagram.
Instagram's version of the feature started rolling out last week, and now Facebook has begun introducing its own version for its smartphone app users worldwide, although some regions and users may not see it immediately.
It shows you a weekly average for the amount of time you spend on the social network each day, while it also shows time spent for each specific day of the week, enabling you to see whether your Saturday usage, for instance, is too high.
Added to this, it lets you choose to have a daily reminder sent to you after a certain amount of time, something which could encourage users to log off and do something else.
"We developed these tools based on collaboration and inspiration from leading mental health experts and organizations, academics, our own extensive research and feedback from our community," explained Facebook's Ameet Ranadive and David Ginsberg in the August that initially revealed the feature.
"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."
The new feature comes amid growing criticism that Facebook and social media in general has a negative effect on mental health, with Apple and Google introducing similar tools within their own products and ecosystems.
However, in contrast to the offerings from its rivals, Facebook's new feature won't perhaps be as effective or as powerful.
For example, Google's new Digital Wellbeing tool (which can be found on the Pixel 3 and on the new Android Pie operating system) actually locks apps after daily time limits have expired, whereas Facebook's merely sends a reminder that can be ignored.
Also, the new feature will be available only on the smartphone app version of Facebook, and not on the desktop version, meaning that users could simply jump to their computers after receiving their daily reminder.
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How to use the new Your Time on Facebook feature
To use and make the most of the new feature, you should do the following once logged into the Facebook app:
- Tap the More button on the right-hand side of the bottom navigation bar
- Tap Settings & Privacy
- Finally, tap “Your Time on Facebook”
From there, you can then look at your "Time on Facebook" and also tap the "Set Daily Reminder" option, as well as the "Notification Settings" option that lets you choose how notifications are sent to you.
What do you think of Facebook's new feature? Let us know in the comments.
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