Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction
6 58Instagram head Adam Mosseri told a Los Angeles courtroom last week that a teenager's 16-hour single-day session on the platform was "problematic use" but not an addiction, a distinction he drew repeatedly during testimony in a landmark trial over social media's harm to minors.
Mosseri, who has led Instagram for eight years, is the first high-profile tech executive to take the stand. He agreed the platform should do everything in its power to protect young users but said how much use was too much was "a personal thing." The lead plaintiff, identified as K.G.M., reported bullying on Instagram more than 300 times; Mosseri said he had not known. An internal Meta survey of 269,000 users found 60% had experienced bullying in the previous week.
6 comments
Sounds like... (Score: 5, Funny)
by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday February 16, 2026 @02:04PM (#65992646)
He must've attended that Zuckerberg weekend seminar.
Reads like problematic profits warped his honesty (Score: 5, Insightful)
by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Monday February 16, 2026 @02:10PM (#65992656)
No kid should be on social media for 16 hours a day.
Re:Reads like problematic profits warped his hones (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Voice of satan ( 1553177 ) on Monday February 16, 2026 @02:13PM (#65992662)
No kid should be on social media. Period.
Besides, isn't addiction something diagnosed by a physician ? I would testify in court i would not venture in giving actual medical diagnostics. I would use other words.
Re: Reads like problematic profits warped his hone (Score: 5, Funny)
by Tomahawk ( 1343 ) on Monday February 16, 2026 @02:38PM (#65992738)
Preferably 24 his a day...
Bullshit (Score: 5, Insightful)
by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Monday February 16, 2026 @02:46PM (#65992750)
Muthahfuckah, if you spend TWO THIRDS of your waking time doing a single thing, YOU'RE ADDICTED!
Doesn't matter if it's sports, working out, gardening, watching TV, stroking your micro-dick, or browsing InstaShit, spending 16 hours per day on one thing is one of THE most obvious signs of addiction I can think of. And I bet this teenager would display genuine withdrawal symptoms if separated from their phone.
He's right! That doesn't make it better though. (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Torodung ( 31985 ) on Monday February 16, 2026 @03:27PM (#65992830)
That's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), not addiction. It's the same thing that makes casinos profitable. Addiction involves chemically moving your homeostasis to the point where your "optimal state," your ability to function, requires the thing you're addicted to. You go through physical withdrawal if you stop. Like, you'll need direct hospital care for withdrawal, sometimes. There are even legal medications that you have to taper off of or you're in the hospital.
There are so many things that get called addiction, but it's all OCD. As with any genetic condition, some have it worse than others.
And don't tell me about endorphins. That's part of your natural brain chemistry. As is adrenaline, cortisol, and neurotransmitter imbalances. With OCD, you have a chemical imbalance, but they're not foreign substances. Your genes are predisposed to something that could be good, but could also cause you harm. It's something that can be leveraged by bad actors, but it's already there, waiting to go. It is part of your homeostatic condition already. You'll have to put yourself out of homeostasis to deal with it, which is why in severe cases it's medicated.
When Zuck manages your dopamine hits, he's using psychologists to figure out how to optimize the brain chemistry of people who are predisposed to obsessive behavior for his own ends. He's not a drug dealer using chemists to amp up the speed and intensity of dependency.
Just put away the fucking phone. There will be no significant withdrawal other than an eerie amount of silence. It'll be like turning on a light once you realize how benighted your life has become. If you need an obsession, get obsessed with exercise or something else of actual value to your life. If you have severe OCD and can't do that, get psychiatric care. There are plenty of medications to relieve the imbalance.