Put your hand up if you picked up your phone to check something quickly, only to find yourself mindlessly scrolling through rubbish twenty minutes later?
So it's not just us then.
That's why the latest news from Facebook and Instagram is the best thing we've heard all day.
#Facebook and #Instagram are releasing a new tool to limit how much time people spend on their apps
— Fingertip Solutions (@FingertipSol) August 1, 2018
The announcement follows concerns that excessive social media usage can have a negative impact on mental health
What do you think? #socialmedia https://t.co/lAQZl3jmLX
Facebook and Instagram are now stepping in to try and manage this problem by adding new tools designed to help us limit the amount of time we actually spend on the apps.
This comes after reports that show how heavy social media usage is linked to depression and anxiety.
According to Variety, a recent eMarketer research study revealed that in 2018, U.S. adults are projected to spend 42 minutes a day on Facebook (up 16% since 2014) and 26 minutes on Instagram (up 44% over the last four years).
Facebook newsroom blog post, Facebook director of research David Ginsberg and Ameet Ranadive, Instagram’s product director for well-being wrote, “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.''
So how are these new tools going to help us?
To access the new tools on Facebook or Instagram, users can go to the settings page on either app.
On Instagram, there will be an option to show “Your Activity,” while on Facebook it will appear as “Your Time on Facebook”, The Irish Examiner reported.
“It’s our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people - and we take that responsibility seriously,” Ginsberg and Ranadive wrote.
“These new tools are an important first step, and we are committed to continuing our work to foster safe, kind and supportive communities for everyone.”
While these new tools are optional, the facts and figures that have been released relating to the amount of time we spend online should be enough to make you want to embrace these updates.
Social media has many positives, but it can become quite dangerous if we start spending more time online than IRL.
