Facebook, as part of its goal of helping people manage their time on the social network during the COVID-19 pandemic, has introduced Quiet Mode.
In a post on the Facebook Newsroom, the social media company’s head of health, Kang-Xing Jin, wrote that setting boundaries on the time that people spend online may be helpful, especially amid the adjustments of staying at home and establishing new routines. Quiet Mode is a feature that will help balance the time and focus that people dedicate to their family and friends amid these difficult times.
Quiet Mode may be turned on and off as needed, or it may be scheduled to activate at designated times of the day.
Upon activating Quiet Mode, the push notifications of Facebook will be muted, so that people may focus on the people around them or on their tasks at hand. If people attempt to open Facebook while Quiet Mode is enabled, the app will show how much time is left for the feature, discouraging usage. However, there is an option to use Facebook for 15 minutes, or to end Quiet Mode prematurely.
With the launch of Quiet Mode, Facebook also added more detailed usage statistics, including usage for two-week periods, as well as breakdowns of how people spend their time in the daytime and the nighttime.
Facebook has started to roll out Quiet Mode to the iOS version of its app. The Android version, meanwhile, will start testing the feature in May, with the aim of a wider release in June.
Facebook amid COVID-19
In its announcement of Quiet Mode, Facebook also said that it is sharing tips from the World Health Organization and the National Alliance on Mental Illness on how people can take care of themselves while staying at home. The resources, including contact details for local crisis hotlines, will be shared on Facebook’s Coronavirus Information Center.
Facebook also recently released new tools to help researchers understand and overcome COVID-19. The new tools, which come in the form of Disease Prevention Maps, utilize location data to show how population dynamics influence the spread of the coronavirus.
