This is how the European Parliament wants to make TikTok and Instagram “less addictive”

That social networks can create cases of addiction, or at least occupy a large part of your time each day, is more than proven, especially when it comes to platforms like TikTok or Instagram. Both use the so-called “infinite scroll”. That is, a way for you to spend as much time as possible browsing its content.

Something to which now the European Parliament wants to put an end or, at least, reduce it significantly through a new proposal. We tell you everything that is known about it to date.

The European Parliament against TikTok addiction

Has it ever happened to you that you have become “hooked” on a social network like TikTok or Instagram by sliding the screen down as if there were no tomorrow? Well, it’s not something that happens by chance. Its “infinite scroll” is designed precisely for that, and soon it could become prohibited.

The European Parliament has decided to take action on the matter and confront what, at least from their point of view, promotes what they consider a digital addiction. In reality, it is not something that only affects social networks, but also targets online games or online movie or series streaming services.

But TikTok or Instagram can also be harmed by this. For the European Commission, There are applications that are clearly harmful to the “physical and psychological health” of users. His intentions? Force the development of products that are ethical and that, among other things, are as least addictive as possible, especially with the youngest in mind.

In addition to this measure against infinite scrolling, it is also intended encourage other actions such as avoiding, as far as possible, fake news on the Internet or the right not to be disturbed in what could be considered the digital world.

Goodbye to infinite scroll?

In a practical sense, it could be said that the European Parliament’s new proposal aims protect users from the risks that social networks can generate and, above all, make many online services more transparent in their operation. Without strategies that could be called “unethical” to get an audience.

In this sense, infinite scroll plays a fundamental role. Those who are not familiar with it should know that, basically, it consists of the action that some platforms put into practice. load content continuously, without there being an end itself. And that, for the European Parliament, it is addictive, or can become so.

Prohibiting this function, therefore, would be part of the current struggle to limit the time spent on social networks, which seems to grow every day and attract a greater number of people, sometimes of all ages.

It must be taken into account, however, that this proposal still has a long way to go, since it must first be approved by the European Parliament and would not come into force in the short term.