How Instagram's new silent mode can help you cut out the din

Instagram has announced a new Quiet Mode that will encourage people to spend less time scrolling through the app and more time focusing on studying and, uh, driving.

Enabling silent mode will disable notifications, change the activity status to "In silent mode", and send an automatic reply to all direct messages received, letting the sender know you're taking a break.

The new tool will recommend turning on silent mode when Instagram notices teens have been on the app for ages, late at night. However, it can also be activated manually at any time or scheduled taking into account your daily routine.

Instagram says it will help people set more boundaries with their friends and followers, and encourage them to take more time for themselves and focus on the things that matter.

In a blog post, Instagram says, "Teenagers told us that they sometimes want to take time for themselves and that they may be looking for other ways to focus at night, while studying and at work. school. You can easily customize your silent mode times to suit your schedule and once the feature is turned off, we'll show you a brief summary of notifications so you can catch up on what you missed.

The feature is launching today in the UK, as well as Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with more countries to be added soon.

Elsewhere, Instagram is also announcing new ways for app users to customize what they see recommended in their feed. They will now have more power to tell Instagram what they don't want to see. The app, in theory, will stop recommending it.

Users can hide multiple pieces of content at once in Explore, which should impact what they see in Reels, Search, and elsewhere. Users will already be able to hide posts containing words, emojis or hashtags they wish to avoid.

So if you're tired of seeing workout posts this January, you can delete words like "Fitness." Sorted.