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Instagram has started testing a new feature called 'Take a Break' to encourage people to take regular breaks from using the Meta-owned photo-sharing app.

According to Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, the long-awaited 'Take a Break' feature will remind users when they have spent a long time on the platform.

"It does what you think it does. If you opt in, it encourages you to take a break from Instagram after you spend a certain amount of time on the app; 10, 20, or 30 minutes," Mosseri said in a video posted to Twitter.

'Take a Break' is expected to be more widely available in December, Mosseri added.

The new feature comes amid increased criticism that Instagram is harmful to its teen users. Recently, American whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed how popular social media apps can adversely affect young people's mental health.

Haugen said Facebook knows that kids in their most vulnerable moments are harmed by its systems. She said Facebook has figured out that around the age of 14, right before high school, is when kids are most likely to get sucked into Instagram's emotional roller-coaster

Meanwhile, Facebook's Vice President of global affairs Nick Clegg, said that the photo-sharing platform will introduce new features to remove bad content.

"We're going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenager is looking at the same content over and over again, and it's content which may not be conducive to their well-being, we will nudge them to look at other content," Clegg said.