Adam Mosseri said Instagram struggled for years to get teens to use 'Take a Break'

Adam Mosseri, Instagram's head, testified the app battled for years to get teens to utilize the well-being feature "Take a Break." Bloomberg/Getty Images quoted Mosseri as stating Instagram struggled for years to get teens to use its Take a Break well-being feature. Despite boasting a 90% retention rate, Instagram didn't mention its 1.8% activation rate.

Meta faces a critical trial in Oakland over alleged harm to teens. Mosseri testified Tuesday that only a small percentage of teens initially opted into Take a Break, an app feature designed to urge users to pause after a set scrolling time. Most people didn't turn it on, but Mosseri acknowledged they didn't realize this at the time, as it was still under development.

Instagram initially tried showing teens notifications to encourage activation, but this effort fell far short of expectations. The company eventually made Take a Break default for teens. However, the feature's initial adoption was modest at 1.8% in 2021, while Instagram's public blog post claimed 90% of teens kept it on, a discrepancy Mosseri addressed by explaining they planned to improve the figure over time.