Instagram Quietly Increases Minimum Daily Time Limit to 30 Minutes

pcmag.com:

Instagram quietly removed the ability for mobile users to set a daily time limit reminder for less than 30 minutes.

Previously, folks could choose to be prodded after just 10 or 15 minutes browsing Instagram. Now, unless you set a separate timer, you could get lost in the app for at least 30 minutes a day. The edit, TechCrunch noted, can be traced back to money-making advertisements and the need for more people to see more ads.

In a fourth quarter earnings presentation earlier this month, parent company Meta announced a drop in daily Facebook users, along with lower-than-expected ad growth. Alongside competition from increasingly popular platforms like TikTok, Zuckerberg & Co. blame Apple's iOS privacy changes and new regulations in Europe that make it more difficult to track users via personalized ads.

"We have two time management features," Meta told TechCrunch in a statement. "Our existing 'daily limit' shows you a notification when you've hit your daily limit, but our newest feature 'Take A Break' shows you full-screen reminders to leave the app, and includes 10 minute intervals. We changed the 'daily limit' options to avoid sending people multiple notifications at the same time."

If you can stomach it, visit Settings > Account > Your activity to see approximately how many hours you spend using the app. Users can schedule reminders to take a break at set intervals or sign off after a specific amount of time. It's possible to retain an existing sub-30-minute time limit, according to a screenshot shared by TechCrunch, but without reading the fine print, it's easy for anyone to get duped into editing their daily limit to a higher threshold.

"The available values for daily time limits are changing as part of an app