Instagram Releases the ‘Take a Break’ Feature to All Countries

Instagram announced on Friday that its ‘Take a Break’ feature is now available in all countries, including India.

The feature allows users to set up reminders to take a break from scrolling after a certain amount of time and can be enabled or disabled by all service users.

Take a Break will be added to Instagram’s existing Daily Limit feature, which allows users to set a daily time limit for how much time they want to spend on the app. With a campaign called Break Zaroori Hai, the Meta-owned company has partnered with youth platform We The Young to raise awareness about the feature.

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri explained in November that the Take a Break feature is intended to remind users to stop using the app after a certain amount of time has passed. The feature is completely optional, and users can be reminded to take a break from the app at 10-, 20-, or 30-minute intervals, according to Mosseri. After a few months of testing in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, the feature is now being rolled out to all countries.

While the Take a Break feature is optional, and users must opt in to receive reminders, Instagram says the feature will appear for users who have been scrolling for a certain amount of time. According to the company, users will then be prompted to set up reminders to take more breaks in the future, as well as “expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset.” Younger users will receive notifications suggesting that they enable the Take a Break feature.

Parent company Meta (formerly known as Facebook) came under fire last year when whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that the company’s own research found Instagram could be harmful to the mental health of young users.

Shortly after the revelations, Instagram began testing the Take a Break feature to assist younger users who wanted to reduce their time spent on the app. According to the company, the new Take a Break feature is now available on Instagram for iOS users and will be available to Android users in the coming weeks.