Every thirty days, I find myself scrolling more mindlessly through Instagram than usual. And then I remember that every thirty days, my “snooze suggested posts for 30 days” has expired.
The snooze button is one of the platform’s relatively unknown features that can do a lot to save your attention and time, and potentially your mental health.
Here’s how to get there:
Go to “Settings and Activity” (three horizontal bars on top of your profile), scroll down to “Content preferences”, and then hit “Snooze suggested posts”.
It’s frustrating that the option expires; the fact that it’s not left on permanently indicates just how well the “suggested” posts work.
It’s frustrating also that accounts are not set up to opt IN to “suggested posts”, rather than requiring users to figure out they can actually opt out, deep within their settings. Right there, under where you can also “reset your algorithm”.
Also frustrating that within these settings feature you can also see the option to “op IN” to political content, so it’s not like Meta doesn’t have the capacity to support users to be opted out of certain content by default.
Another annoyance? That Women’s Agenda’s Instagram account is blocked in Canada altogether, a Meta response to Canada’s Online News Act. That’s another story, for another time, but further proof that Meta is very much capable of determining what type of content should be blocked where.
I’ve been thinking about these arguably hidden features of the platform since Meta settled a lawsuit in the US, promising to pay around US$18 billion and make design changes to platforms including Facebook and Instagram in a lawsuit filed in 2023 by a coalition of 29 US state attorneys general alleging Meta’s platforms were engineered to keep teenagers hooked and that Meta had misled the public about the harm.
Just one week into the trial, the parties agreed to settle, with Meta releasing a statement saying that they have “partnered” with the states to “set a news industry standard” and calling on Snap, TikTok and YouTube to also apply such standards.
Meanwhile, Chanel Contos from Teach Us Consent will tell the National Press Club today that social media platforms should be required to ensure their feeds show posts only from followers, unless users explicitly opt in to receive an algorithmically curated feed. And such a move would not be all that radical — given that’s how social media feeds appeared a decade ago.
Earlier this year, Meta and YouTube were both found liable for harming a young woman who had joined Instagram when she was just nine, while separately a New Mexico jury found that Meta had endangered children, with the social giant ordered to pay US$567 to help address the youth mental health crisis, with the amount raised to $942 million by a judge in August.
Some of the guardrails Meta will apply across the participating jurisdictions include a “night mode” for those aged 13 to 17, blocking access to Instagram and Facebook from midnight by default, and notification silencing from 10pm to 7am. It will also apply a two-hour daily cap across both platforms combined, with long-form and messaging excluded (videos must be at least 22 minutes long, more closely resembling watching a TV show than flicking from video to video every 15 seconds). And Meta will also mute notifications during school hours on weekdays, along with nudges after 15 minutes of scrolling and forced breaks at the 60- and 90-minute marks. Meanwhile, ‘Like” counts will also be hidden by default, while “cosmetic procedure filters” will be switched off.
And teens will also be given the option to have a non-personalised feed (meaning it’s not determined by an algorithm) within 10 days of joining the platform, and then every 90 days thereafter.
To be clear, the above changes will happen in US jurisdictions. So far, there is no indication the changes will be rolled out here.
I’d argue the algorithm should be switched off by default, and it’s telling how much Meta is resisting this – indicating algorithmic content is key to engagement and to the business model.
And as a grown woman who understands how the pull of algorithmic content works and still gets dragged in, I find these ideas could go well beyond those of younger users, especially those that are switched off by default.
But take this as a reminder that there are features available that can help, like the “Snooze suggested posts for 30 days” option; and you won’t need to set a reminder. You’ll soon realise the option to opt in to “snoozing suggesting posts” will expire once you’re mindlessly scrolling once again, and that attempts are in motion to hook you once again.
And the fact that these features exist in the first place proves that Meta is very capable of issuing more such options to help teenagers regulate social media use.