Self-imposed time limits

Something is wrong

The loudest signal that tells me that something is broken in social media is the number of acquaintances, friends, and family, that have expressed this thought: "I spend too much time on social media, and I am troubled by how little control I have over it."

That this sentiment is common tells us that it is time that we start to think about how we can build systems that better enable users to regain a sense of control in their relationship with social media (or digital platforms writ-large, including gaming, shopping, streaming, etc). Empowering users needs to center around that all-too-common concern: time.

Half way there

This problem has been partially answered by existing systems. A number of applications and operating systems now have features that remind users about the amount of time they spend on platform, and some have even offered "speed-bump" type features that interrupt the user after a user-defined timer has run out.

This is only half of the puzzle, however, because the efficacy of this kind of "report and interrupt" strategy relies on the user to be able to overcome the urge to dismiss it, or make the few taps to subvert or change the rule itself. Interruptions and timers attempt to engage our brains in long-term, planning type thinking, at a time when the problem is the state of mind that the platform induces: a more short-term, reward based thinking. The fact that timers and reminders are ineffective is one of the reasons that attention-hungry platforms have been willing to build them into their apps.

Allow users to set predefined limits

What we need instead is the capacity for individuals to set hard activity and app timers, which would prevent the user from any further use of the application until the time renewed/cooled off. You could imagine these being built in a number of ways:

• An app could allow a user to set a total time limit for the day or week, and stop working in any way after that time.
• An app could allow a user to set a access time and cooldown time, such that the user can access the app for the access time, and then cannot access it until the cooldown time has elapsed.
  
• An app could allow users to set time-of-day restrictions on their usage, preventing use in the time before bed, for example.
  
• An app could allow a user to set any of the above types of limits for specific functionality within an app - for example, allowing them to continue to interact with messaging features while setting hard timers on recommended content feeds.
• An operating system could enable these features cross-app, expanding their reach and efficacy.

Any one of these changes would be a dramatic improvement over today's capabilities, where many users turn to third-party apps that are only partially effective in performing this kind of self-limitation.

An analogy

Casinos are designed for addiction - the thrill of chance, the rush of winning, and every element of casino design is engineered to tickle the brain of the casino-goer into spending more time (and losing more money) in the place. Since it is designed to promote addiction, one might suggest that those with proclivity to addiction avoid casinos altogether.

That advice isn't particularly useful for people who want to experience some of the pleasures of gambling, but avoid the slippery downfall. Instead, the typical advice is to select an amount of money that the gambler would feel OK about losing, and only bring that amount of money to the casino, in cash - leaving the debit/credit cards at home.

A pre-defined, strictly enforced time limit is the equivalent of this feature - setting a limitation while you're not under the influence of the addictive space, and in doing so, enabling yourself to enjoy the addictive space within the freedom of restriction.

A fantastic target for regulation

I find this to be a compelling target for regulation because 

1. It is straightforward to define in legally precise terms
2. It vests control with the end user
3. It ameliorates the user concern about a lack of control without demanding abstinence.
4. It is content and platform agnostic - these kinds of restrictions would be easy to build + standardize across products.