Time Well Spent: Why Popular Apps are Now Tracking Your Time

Two of the biggest social media giants have recently announced that they’re introducing features that will help users manage the time they spend on their apps.

Two of the biggest social media giants have recently announced that they’re introducing features that will help users manage the time they spend on their apps.

Who’s tracking my time?

Facebook is starting to roll out a feature called ‘Your Time on Facebook’ which will allow users to see exactly how long they’re spending per day scrolling through the world’s favourite social media app. They’re also working on a feature which allows you to set alerts that work alongside time limits to ensure you’re maximising your time per day.

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is also working on something very similar. The ‘Time Well Spent’ section will tell each user just how much time they have spent on Instagram. CEO Kevin Systrom confirmed this forthcoming update, stating that “We’re building tools that will help the IG community know more about the time they spend on Instagram – any time should be positive and intentional.”

Why are companies making these changes?

There has been much talk over recent years about the potential addictiveness of social media and social sharing apps like Facebook and Instagram. App developers have been working alongside those in the field of psychology to create ways to encourage healthy interaction with the apps that we spend the most time on.

App developers who have begun implementing these changes are hoping that by highlighting exactly how much time a user spends interacting with their apps may encourage them to cut down their usage.

How will this help users?

Another change that Instagram is starting to roll out involves the feed. The Instagram feed utilises an ‘infinite scroll’, meaning that no matter how many times you move down the page, there will always be more posts to discover. To prevent users from spending too much time scrolling, the company has started to bring messages up in place of posts which say, “You’re all caught up”.

These messages are designed to interrupt a user’s flow and divert their attention from their scrolling. It’s thought that such an interruption will encourage users to move away from their app and spend their time elsewhere.

With a steadily growing awareness of the effect, technology can have on our mental wellbeing, it’s interesting to see how app giants are handling the pressure to encourage a healthier level of engagement.