Instagram will introduce a new feature to encourage teenagers to “take a break” from the platform, as well as “nudge” them away from harmful content. Facebook’s Vice President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, made these remarks on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. This comes less then a week after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified in front of Congress about research that showed Instagram can have a negative effect on the mental health of young people.
Read: TSMC and Sony could help ease global chip shortage
“We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenager is looking at the same content over and over again, and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well-being, we will nudge them to look at other content,” Clegg said. This also comes soon after the company also put the brakes on its planned Instagram Kids product, and added that they would instead create a feature “called ‘take a break,’ where we will be prompting teens to just simply take a break from using Instagram.”
Clegg was asked whether Facebook’s algorithms spread or amplified the messaging and reasoning of the people rallying for the insurrection on January 6th and he was unwilling to give a straight answer. He added that Facebook’s algorithms “should be held to account, if necessary, by regulation so that people can match what our systems say they’re supposed to do from what actually happens.”
Instagram’s announcement read:
“We announced last week that we’re exploring two new ideas: encouraging people to look at other topics if they’re dwelling on content that might contribute to negative social comparison, and a feature tentatively called “Take a Break,” where people could put their account on pause and take a moment to consider whether the time they’re spending is meaningful.”
