Facebook and Instagram establishes time limit

FACEBOOK and Instagram are establishing a new tool to limit how much time people spend on their apps.

The announcement follows concerns that excessive social media use can have a negative impact on mental health.

Users will now be able to check how much time they’ve spent scrolling, set a reminder for when they’ve reach their allotted time, and mute notifications for a period of time.

But some people say it doesn’t go far enough.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a radical change or that it’s going to really change a lot about the way that most people use Facebook or Instagram,” Grant Blank, from the Oxford Internet Institute, tells Newsbeat.

“It strikes me as a way to balance their corporate interest of keeping people spending as much time as possible on Facebook, while still being responsive to people who find the continual notifications to be disturbing or distracting.”