Social media is designed to keep you hooked. The endless scrolling. A constant stream of notifications. The low-stakes temptation of opening an app. It all works together to suck you in and keep your attention for longer than what could be considered a harmless distraction.
If you feel like you're ready to pull back without fully unplugging, Facebook offers a built-in tool called Quiet Mode that can help you manage your time on the platform. To get started, tap the hamburger menu in the mobile app and head to Settings & privacy > Settings, then choose Your Time on Facebook under the Preferences section.
See How Much Time You Spend on Facebook
How much time are you actually spending on Facebook? If you really want to know, tap See Time on the Your Time on Facebook page. Here you can view several graphs that show app usage in a similar way to Apple's Screen Time. Swipe the screen to view total time, daytime versus nighttime hours, and how many times you opened the app over the last week.
If you simply want to be mindful of your usage and not change anything, enable Weekly Update, which will send you a weekly email reviewing your Facebook usage from the last seven days. You can also tap Activity Log to view all your recent actions on the platform.
Set Up a Daily Reminder
If you want to start making changes to your Facebook usage, tap the See Tools button on the Your Time on Facebook page. You can start off slow by setting a reminder that will tell you to stop using the app after a set amount of time.
From the Manage Your Time page, enable Daily Time Reminder at the bottom of the page, and then set the timer to a specific amount of hours and minutes. The app will tell you how much time you average per day so you can set the timer to something under that number. Tap Set Reminder, then continue using the app until your time is up.
Set Quiet Mode
If you need a little help cutting down on Facebook usage, Quiet Mode is here to help. When enabled, this feature will mute push notifications to your phone, limit the notification dots that appear in the app, and stop you from using the app the next time you open it. Enable Quiet Mode from the Manage Your Time page, and then set how long you want it to stay on.
You can also schedule Quiet Mode to turn on at a specific time each day. Enable Scheduled Quiet Mode, then tap Add Schedule to set the start and end time, as well as which days the feature should be used. Click Delete Schedule to remove or redo it.
Manage Quiet Mode
When you open the app while Quiet Mode is enabled, you'll be greeted by a reminder that shows you how long you have left. If you really need to do something in the app, tap Manage Quiet Mode and either end Quiet Mode immediately or get a 15-minute reprieve before going back to your self-imposed exile. Or choose Edit Settings to change how Quiet Mode works for you.