Facebook is working on a tool to track and limit the time Facebook users spend on the social media platform, as concerns mount over the dangers of excessive social media browsing.

The Your Time on Facebook feature is one of a number of recent attempts by Mark Zuckberg to steady the ship and ward off regulatory crackdowns. Public trust in the social media giant has plummeted in recent months following the Cambridge Analytica scandal – which saw the Facebook CEO appear before US Senate and EU Committees.

Harmful Habits

Social media has opened up a new world of opportunity and means of socialisation for millions of people worldwide. However, concerns over the prolonged use of apps such as Facebook, Instagram and various other social media platforms are growing.

We’ve all spent hours of our lives mindlessly scrolling through news feeds, reading up on the latest gossip, watching pet montage videos or probably arguing with people over politics; it’s all just a bit of fun, however, what we may not consider is the psychological damage this is doing.

Facebook’s new feature could help users better regulate their time spent on social networks. Self-policing on this platform is particularly crucial and comes at a time when both iOS and Android are introducing their own screen time monitoring features. These new introductions will allow users to view which apps they frequent the most and also set time limits for browsing on individual platforms.

We spend an awfully long time on social media, but is it really affecting us? Recent medical studies suggest some users are putting themselves at great risk.

Psychological Issues

Last year, Britain’s Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) released the findings of a study into the psychological and emotional effects of social media on users – particularly young women.

Facebook’s sister platform, Instagram, came under particular scrutiny in the study; ranking lowest on a list of five major platforms and their effect on mental health and well-being. According to the study, mental health and body image issues are affecting many young people using the app. Users browsing through their feeds often come into contact with images of perfect-looking celebrities and friends, and this is causing damaging, long-lasting mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia.

A 70% rise in anxiety disorders in the last 25 years has coincided with the rise and extended use of social media and as such the necessity of safeguards is becoming increasingly important. In response to these claims, Instagram announced it would introduce a series of new features to help its users and even went so far as to set up a team to specifically deal with the issues at hand.

The Instagram Wellbeing team aims to offer help to users of the app that are struggling with mental health issues as well as providing information on how to use social media safely and responsibly.

Android Trials

Facebook is trialling the new feature on its Android app, and will help enable users to limit their mindless scrolling. It will show users how many minutes they have accrued on the app over a seven day period and will offer the chance to imposed time limits on browsing.

Once a user has reached their self-imposed limit, they will be notified accordingly. A Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch that the team is “always working on new ways to help make sure people’s time on Facebook is well spent.”

Early images of this feature were revealed on Twitter by Jane Manchun Wong. In May, Wong revealed Twitter had been testing an encrypted messaging service.