Instagram Wants To Stop Your Endless Scrolling – Here’s How The App Plans To Help

Unless you're blessed with Olympian levels of self-control, you probably feel as though you spend too much time on Instagram – at least sometimes, anyway.

Endless scrolling is an easy trap to fall into, so it's great to hear that the app is testing a "take a break" feature that will remind users how much time they've just spent on the 'gram. If you choose to switch on the feature, you can decide precisely how long you scroll for before getting a reminder.

The new feature was announced by the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, earlier this week. "It does what you think it does," Mosseri says in a video posted to Twitter. "If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app; 10, 20, or 30 minutes."

According to Mosseri, the new "take a break" feature is "part of a broader effort to try and give people more control over their experience of Instagram".

"Ultimately, you know what’s best for you when it comes to how you use the app," he added. "And we want to make sure we provide tools for you to shape Instagram into what works for you."

The feature could be rolled out to all users as soon as December – just in time to stop us from comparing our Christmas breaks to everyone else's and cut back on the inevitable drunk Instagramming (which is very much the new drunk texting).

Given that it's well known that Instagram can negatively affect people's mental health, and the app seems very much aware of this, the "take a break" feature can't arrive a minute too soon. Earlier this year, the app introduced another new feature designed to ease Instagram anxiety – one that allows you to hide your likes.