Meta has rolled out a new feature for its Instagram app called “quiet mode,” which claims to help users focus and set boundaries with friends and followers. “Quiet mode on Instagram,” Meta says, “turns off notifications and sends an auto-reply when someone sends you a direct message (DM), so you can focus on things like driving or studying.”
If an Instagram user should turn on this feature, his or her profile activity status will read “In quiet mode,” and incoming notifications will be paused. Should anyone (friend or follower) send a DM at this time, Instagram will reply automatically with a notification that you’re in “quiet mode.”
The feature is available to everyone, but Instagram seems to be targeting teenagers specifically. Instagram is advising teenagers to use “Quiet Mode” as a trigger such that it enables them get off the social media platform after spending a specific amount of time late at night.
“Teens have told us that they sometimes want to take time for themselves and might be looking for more ways to focus at night, while studying and during school,” Meta says.
Users in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will initially have access to the tool, with future expansion to include more countries.
Years of severe criticism over the amount of time people, particularly teenagers, spend on various social media applications and the harms it can pose to their mental health has led to Instagram offering users more ways to manage their usage, and this tool is the latest example of that.
The company stated in a blog post that “these updates are part of our ongoing work to ensure that people have experiences that work for them, and that they have more control over the time they spend online and the types of content they see.”
Instagram has added a number of safety features for teens including ones to protect teens’ privacy and cut down on unwanted adult contact, limit ad targeting, limit teens’ access to mature content, and help parents keep an eye on and control their teens’ Instagram use with parental controls.
The addition of Quiet Mode to Instagram’s existing suite of screen time management features includes daily time spent controls that let users track their app use and send themselves alerts; tools to configure “take a break” reminders after individual app sessions extend beyond a certain time; and tools to pause, snooze, and unfollow pages, groups, and people to further reduce engagement with addictive or otherwise unwanted content.
However, the goal of the new Quiet Mode feature isn’t merely to provide a system that encourages users to take a break. Rather, it focuses on the consequences of attempting to temporarily disengage from a frequently-used app, particularly when those around you are counting on you to be available at all times.
Moreover, Instagram is giving its users more say over what they see on the Explore page. This is determined by an algorithm that takes into account past actions taken by users, but it may not always be in line with what the user would prefer to see.
Instagram has announced that in the future, users will be able to hide multiple items at once from being displayed in Explore. This could be useful for people whose profiles reflect their actions but not their actual interests. Furthermore, if you tap “Not Interested” on an Explore post, Instagram will make an effort to stop suggesting similar content to you in the future across the app’s various recommendation mechanisms, including Reels, Search, and more.
Finally, recommendations for users will be adjusted based on the words that have been blocked. In the same way that you can filter out direct messages and comments containing specific words, emojis, or hashtags, you can do the same thing with Instagram’s suggested posts.
Instagram says that if you choose to hide content based on a certain keyword, such as “fitness” or “recipes,” you won’t see any posts that include those words.
