Facebook, on new usage controls

It’s our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people — and we take that responsibility seriously

san francisco — Facebook, during all its years of expansion, has been focused on one thing above all else: getting people to spend more time on its social network.

Now, as tech giants face increasing criticism over the addictive nature of their products, the company is releasing features that do the opposite. Facebook and Instagram, its photo-sharing app, will add controls to help people measure how much time they’re spending on the sites, so they can dial it back if they want to. Users can also mute notifications on the apps for a certain period of time, or sign up to get an alert when they’ve been scrolling for too long.

“It’s not just about the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram but how they spend that time,” Facebook said in a blog post on Wednesday. “It’s our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people — and we take that responsibility seriously.”

Most companies haven’t focused on that issue until recently, following concerns from mental health experts and industry critics about Internet and device addiction, and the way technology is designed to keep users coming back for more. In June, for example, Apple introduced Screen Time, an activity report that will show how much time users are spending on individual apps and how often they pick up their iPhones.