How to limit your time on Instagram (and TikTok)
Instagram and TikTok are built to keep you there. Limiting them without deleting them is possible: here are four methods, from the limit built into the app to a limit decided before you even go in.
1. Instagram's daily limit
Instagram offers a time reminder: on your profile, open the menu, then Time spent, and set a daily limit. TikTok has the equivalent in its settings, under Screen time. The catch: it's the app itself reminding you, and the reminder closes with one tap.
2. Android's timer
In Settings › Digital Wellbeing & parental controls, a timer greys out Instagram's icon once the time is reached, until midnight. Sturdier than a reminder, but it can be removed in two taps. The details: Digital Wellbeing on Android.
3. Remove Reels rather than all of Instagram
What makes an hour go by without noticing isn't your friends' messages or stories: it's Reels and suggestions. Removing them is often enough to cut the time spent. All the methods: how to remove Instagram Reels, and on Android: turn off Reels.
4. Decide your time before going in
A limit holds better when you set it before opening the app, not in the middle of a video. Students limited to 10 minutes a day per network felt less lonely and less depressed three weeks later (Hunt et al., 2018).
That's what Livetime, the Android home screen, does: before you open Instagram or TikTok, it asks how many minutes you want to spend there. When the time is up, the app closes and reminds you what you had planned to do. And Instagram opens in a lighter view, without Reels.
Instagram, without the pull. With Livetime, you keep your friends, your messages and your stories, and you choose what to remove: Reels, suggested posts, the home feed. See Instagram in Livetime.
Frequently asked questions
How do I limit my time on Instagram?
With Instagram's daily limit, the Digital Wellbeing timer on Android, by removing Reels, or with a home screen like Livetime that asks for your time before you go in.
How much Instagram a day is too much?
There's no official number. In one study, 10 minutes a day per network was enough to feel less lonely: a good benchmark.
What about TikTok?
The same methods work: TikTok's built-in limit in its settings, Android's timer, or a time decided before going in with Livetime.
Sources
All the studies cited are summarized, with their link, on the Studies page.
Written by Emile Clement, a student and the creator of Livetime, after two years of testing almost every screen-time solution out there.
