With a lot of people adjusting to a “new normal” of working from home while we try and flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic, some may have difficulty drawing a line between working or studying and spending time on social media. Facebook is now introducing a Quiet Mode so you can manage your time on social media both for productivity’s stake and also fro your mental health. This is just one of the tools that they’re introducing to adjust to our new routines and cope with everything else.
Facebook previously introduced a section to help you manage your digital well-being but it’s really more about looking at how much time you spend on their platform. Now Quiet Mode can literally help you pause and slow down so as to manage your anxiety and your productivity as well. Once you turn on the mode, it will mute your push notifications. And if ever you open your Facebook while you’re in that mode, you will get a reminder that you’re trying to limit your time in the app at this particular time.
You can turn on Quiet Mode as needed or if you’re following a schedule, you can run it automatically at designated times. The controls will be found in a new section where you can also view the time spent browsing your feed or posting. You’ll see charts and comparisons here as well and it’s up to you to decide if you’re already spending an unhealthy time on the platform and you should use Quiet Mode every so often.
Facebook also talked about some other resources you can check out during this pandemic. The Coronavirus Information Center on Facebook will be sharing tips from the World Health Organization on how to take care of yourself even while you’re in your own home. There are also links to local crisis hotlines as it has been observed that this is a pretty stressful time for some people so when they need to reach out to someone, they know where to find help.
Over on Instagram, they have partnered with Netflix for an Instagram Live series called “Wanna Talk About It?”. Stars will be paired up with mental health experts as they discuss how to cope with anxiety, stress, and feelings of isolation. Facebook is donating $2 million to support crisis helplines during these times.
