Pinterest says it is rolling out a new in-app prompt in the UK, with the aim to help the country"s teens focus during school hours. This prompt will encourage them to close the app and pause all device notifications.
The initial version was launched earlier this year in the US and Canada. It ran between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and displayed the following message to teen users who opened the app during that window:
Focus is a beautiful thing.
Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs until the school bell rings.
Pinterest says the version it is launching in the UK has been improved. The company is adopting a casual and relatable "peer-to-peer tone," after it got feedback from teens in the US and Canada that the original message sounded like it came from a parent or a teacher. The updated prompts will now include phrases like "busy being brilliant?" and "take a break".
The user can still dismiss the alert and keep scrolling. To justify the feature"s existence, Pinterest threw some stats into its announcement. Its data indicates that 57% of British 13 to 16-year-olds are looking for ways to better manage time on their mobile devices.
9 out of 10 of them feel their phone gets in the way of being present at school. Over half believe that excessive phone use is as dangerous as eating junk food all day. The fear of missing out and simple boredom were cited as the biggest challenges for teens trying to disconnect.
Pinterest"s proactive notification is somewhat similar to the "wind down" feature TikTok introduced this March, which interrupts the feed for users under 16. The key difference, though, is that TikTok"s feature triggers during late-night hours to promote sleep, whereas Pinterest is targeting the classroom.
On a related note, the UK government is reportedly considering a two-hour daily limit per platform for children, over concerns about kids accessing inappropriate materials.