One of the best new features of iOS 12 was the digital wellbeing tool called Screen Time. It’s a great way to track just how much time you’re spending on your iPhone or iPad. The feature tells you how much time you spent in a specific app and helps you set daily limits as well. If you’ve already updated to iOS 12, we highly recommend you start using the feature.
But not everyone is running iOS 12. So Facebook has decided to include a similar (less limiting) feature inside the Facebook and Instagram app. And it comes with a detailed breakdown of your usage on the social media platforms.
If you’ve found yourself becoming addicted to Facebook or Instagram, you can use these tools to do two things. First, to quantify your addiction. You might think you’re only spending a couple of minutes here and there on Instagram. But by the end of the day, it can amount to two to three hours. Maybe more.
Second, you can set the amount of time you want to spend on the app each day. When the time is up, you’ll get a notification about it. But unlike iOS 12’s Screen Time feature you won’t be locked out of the app. If you’re looking for a more extreme approach, you’ll need to use the Screen Time feature (we’ll talk about it at the end of the post).
How to Monitor Screen Time on Instagram on iPhone and iPad
Step 1: Open the Instagram app and go to your profile view.
Step 2: Tap on the menu button in the top-right.
Step 3: Tap on the Your Activity button.
Step 4: Here you’ll see a graph. On top, you’ll see the daily average time spent on Instagram over the past week. If you want to see the exact time you’ve spent on the network, tap on one of the bars on the graph.
Step 5: Now let’s set a daily reminder. Tap on Set Daily Reminder and choose the timing in minutes or hours.
Step 6: There’s also a new mute notification setting you should check out. Tap on Notification Settings from the bottom of the list and tap on the toggle next to Mute Push Notifications. Now you can choose the timing that you want. From 15 minutes to 8 hours. For the given time, Instagram will temporarily mute all notifications so you can focus on your work.
How to Monitor Screen Time on Facebook on iPhone and iPad
Like everything on Facebook, getting to this feature is a bit convoluted.
Step 1: Open the Facebook app and tap on the Settings tab (the last one).
Step 2: Swipe down to the bottom and tap on the Settings & Privacy section. Here, you’ll see the Your time on Facebook option.
Step 3: All the features are the same as the Instagram app. You’ll see daily average time over the past week at the top. Tap on the graph to see time spent on individual days.
Step 4: Tap on Set Daily Reminder to set a time limit.
Step 5: Tap on Change Notification Settings -> Mute Push Notifications to temporarily mute notifications (From 15 minutes to 8 hours).
How to Limit Screen Time on Instagram and Facebook
To actually lock yourself out of the Instagram or Facebook app after a given amount of time, you’ll need to use iOS 12’s Screen Time feature.
Step 1: Open the Settings app, select Screen Time and then tap op on your phone’s name at the top.
Step 2: From the list of your most used apps, find the Instagram or Facebook app. Then tap on Add Limit button and select the time. If you want to create a single limit for both Instagram and Facebook, tap on Edit Apps and add another app to the list.
Step 3: If you want to create a time limit for all social networking apps (and websites), tap on the App Limits option from Screen Time and pick the Social Networking category.
Now that your limit has been set up, you’ll get a notification when you’re close to reaching it. And when you do, the app will be greyed out on the home screen. When you open the app, you’ll see a message saying your time limit is up. If you choose, you can disable the limit for 15 minutes or for the day (by entering your Screen Time passcode).
There’s a lot more to the new Screen Time feature in iOS 12. It’s something you should explore thoroughly using our in-depth guide.
How Much Time Do You Spend on Instagram Every Day?
For most of us, Facebook is easy enough to ignore. You might not even have the Facebook app installed. But it’s the opposite with Instagram. Do you find yourself spending way too much time on Instagram?
What does the data say? Over the last seven days, how much time did you spend on Instagram? And how does it compare to the time you thought you did? Share with us in the comments below.
