Empowering Instagram Users to
Take A Break
by Professor Phillippa Diedrichs, PhD
EVERYBODY Founder and Principal Consultant
Empowering Instagram Users to Take A Break
by Professor Phillippa Diedrichs, PhD, EVERYBODY Founder and Principal Consultant
Collaborating with Instagram on a new feature to increase people’s self-awareness of the time they’re spending on Instagram and give them more control over their experience.
Studies show that social media can have a positive impact on well-being. It can increase social connection and exposure to inspiring body positive and diverse creators, which can improve mood and body confidence¹. However, certain insights from academic studies suggests that people report experiencing social comparisons on social media, the human tendency to compare ourselves to others, and this can become problematic². Passively scrolling for a long time can lead some users to compare themselves with others in an unhelpful way and to feelings of low mood and social isolation³.
For some time, Instagram has been working on ways to understand and reduce social comparisons in order to encourage healthy and intentional experiences on the platform, including developing products (such as a dedicated support flow for people searching for or posting about eating disorders or negative body image) and programmes (such as Instagram’s collaboration with Girl Scouts of the USA, which helps girls check in with their emotions while online and learn how to use technology intentionally).
Instagram approached me to provide evidence-based insights and feedback to take this a step further. Working together, we formulated strategies that could be embedded into the platform itself to reduce social comparisons. The result was Take A Break, a new feature designed to empower users to make informed decisions about how much time they spend on the platform.
How it works is simple: Once turned on, if someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time (e.g. 20 minutes), they will be “nudged” to take a break from scrolling. They also receive access to expert-backed tips on how to reflect and reset. And for teens specifically, Instagram encourages them to turn this feature on with a notification in the app.
Background
The idea of Take A Break emerged while I was working with Instagram’s well-being product and policy teams to find ways to improve the user experience in relation to body image and well-being.
This included providing evidence-based insights and messaging frameworks for their Pressure To Be Perfect Guide, a new collaboration with Instagram creators on the topic of social comparison and healthy social media use.
I also hosted and moderated global stakeholder workshops for Instagram on social comparisons and body confidence. In the post-workshop feedback surveys there was a common refrain: How can we embed tools into the platform itself to help with social comparison? What fundamental design changes could help improve the experience for young users? This became the challenge and goal for Take A Break.
“Phillippa’s evidence-based insights on social comparisons, behavioral science and digital nudges were instrumental to how we built and launched Take a Break.”
– Gargi Apte, Product Manager, Instagram
The power of a nudge
One key area of evidence-based insights I brought to the Take A Break project was around digital nudges.
Nudges are a behaviour change technique studied by behavioural economists for over a decade. They've been applied successfully to issues like climate change, employee well-being and altruism⁴. More recently, ethical digital nudges have been studied as a way to improve users' experiences online without compromising their freedom and personal choice.
A big consideration when developing Take A Break was making sure it didn’t interfere with the user experience and peoples’ autonomy. Agency – the power to make our own choices and take action – is particularly vital to wellbeing and mental health. The insights I shared with Instagram informed the nudging techniques used in Take A Break – encouraging users to think about how long they spend on the platform and the benefits of taking a break, without restricting their freedom of choice.
Our Role
I consulted with Instagram across all stages of the project, including:
DISCOVER
I provided insights on social comparisons, informed decision making, and digital nudges, to inspire the product teams to formulate the Take A Break concept.
CREATE
I collaborated with Instagram’s product designers, researchers and policy and teams to review prototypes and give feedback. I also contributed to the language used to ensure messaging would have maximum impact on our target audience.
LAUNCH
When Take A Break launched, I made myself available to provide my independent perspective on the feature, drawing on my decades of research in this space and my consultations with Instagram.
“Phillippa’s expert guidance and insights – all the way from concept to creation to launch – were critical in grounding our product efforts. Having a trusted academic partner who understands the landscape is key and we’re continuing to work with EVERYBODY on new initiatives to ensure Instagram continues to offer a supportive space for its users.”
- Dayna Geldwert, Head of Global Policy Programs, Instagram
Outcomes
Take a Break was initially tested in late 2021 in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Early test results were promising, showing that once teens set the reminders, more than 90% of them keep them on. Instagram has since launched the feature globally in early 2022.
Instagram is optimistic that Take A Break will be a meaningful way to encourage healthy social media use, particularly among younger users – and so am I.
See more of our work
Nike Made To Play
We partnered with Nike to create more body confident sporting environments for coaches and girls.
Dove Project #ShowUs
We collaborated with Dove, Getty Images and Girl Gaze to create the Cannes Lions award-winning Project #ShowUs to improve gender and appearance diversity in advertising imagery.
LET’S MAKE AN IMPACT TOGETHER
¹ Slater, A., Varsani, N., & Diedrichs P.C. (2017). #fitspo or #loveyourself? The impact of fitspiration and self-compassion Instagram images on women's body image, self-compassion, and mood. Body Image. 2017;22:87-96.; Stevens, A. & Griffths, S. (2020). Body Positivity (#BoPo) in everyday life: An ecological momentary assessment study showing potential benefits to individuals’ body image and emotional wellbeing. Body Image, 35, 181-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.09.003.
² Reer, F., Tang, W.Y., & Quandt, T. (2019). Psychosocial well-being and social media engagement: The mediating roles of social comparison orientation and fear of missing out. New Media & Society. 21, 1486-1505. Doi: doi.org/10.1177/1461444818823719
Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P.C., Vartanian, L.R., & Halliwell (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13, 38-45. Doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002
³ Thorisdottir, I.E., Sigurvinsdottir, R., Asgeirsdottir, B.B., Allegrante, J.P., & Sigdusdottir, I.D. (2019). Active and Passive Social Media Use and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depressed Mood Among Icelandic Adolescents. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2019.0079
⁴ Capararo, V., et al. (2019). Increasing altruistic and cooperative behaviour with simple moral nudges. Scientific Reports, 9, 11880, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48094-4; Nisa C.F., et al. (2019). Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials testing behavioural interventions to promote household action on climate change. Nature Communications, 10, 4545, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12457-2; Tagliabue, M. (2021). Nudge theory applied to wellbeing at work. In Wall., T., Cooper. C.L., & Brough, P. (Eds). The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Wellbeing. SAGE Publications. Retrieved from here.