The world of social media is easily accessible to young people and teens. In fact, a recent survey has shown that a whopping 90% of teens aged 13 to 17 have used social media, with 51% visiting social media sites at least once a day.
The need to keep kids and teens safe on social media has never been more important.
That’s why Instagram has launched a whole new suite of tools to keep teens safe on the Instagram platform. From new parental controls to in-app content nudges, these new tools are designed to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of younger users on social media.
Let’s dive into the latest changes and what they mean for parents and teens on Instagram.
New parental controls on Instagram
In an announcement from Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, we’ve learnt that Instagram is rolling out new parental controls this week on Instagram.
“We think that parents know what’s best for their kids because each kid is different,” tells Adam.
As part of the announcement, Instagram has flagged four big announcements around parental controls on Instagram. These include:
- Instagram is expanding its parental controls to seven new countries around the world, including the UK, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Canada, France and Germany (previously, these features were only available in the US).
- Parents can initiate the supervision relationship on Instagram, rather than kids having to start this process.
- Parents can set periods (both times of day and days of the week) where their kids can’t use Instagram.
- Instagram is providing more information to parents when their teens report something on Instagram, including who they reported and what they specifically reported.
These features are all designed to make it easier for parents to keep tabs on their teen’s online behavior and allow them to foster healthy online habits for their kids.
Managing time spent on Instagram
The team at Instagram are passionate about making sure everyone feels good about the time they spend on the platform.
There are a few ways Instagram is helping parents and teens to manage how much time they spend on the app, including:
- Encouraging more people to use the Take A Break feature which allows you to set limits and alert you with break reminders.
- Instagram is working with creators (including @maysideas, @abraxaxs and @foodwithsoy) to create content that encourages teens to use the Take A Break feature as well as ways to take care of their mental health and wellbeing.Instagram is launching a new tool called Nudges. If Instagram notices teens are going down a rabbit hole and spending too much time on one specific topic, the app will prompt them to explore a new topic.
These important new features come off the back of Instagram announcement in 2021 that they were planning to launch an Instagram platform specifically for kids under 13. After significant backlash, Instagram put these plans on ice and are now focusing on making the current Instagram experience safer for teens.
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