Instagram and other social media platforms have started to bring in users who are getting younger and younger. As a result, many parents have started to call for more restrictions on teen accounts. Instagram recently heard their pleas and created a new teen account that has added security benefits.
On Sept. 17, Meta announced the account rollout and features that will be implemented, stating that it is “a new experience for teens, guided by parents.” These accounts will be in effect automatically for users 16 and under and will require parental permission for any changes.
The built-in privacy features include ways for parents to limit screen time, and restrict messages, sensitive content, and some interactions. Accounts will now automatically be private and users can only be connected by people they follow or who follow them. Additionally, teens will add specific interests, similar to Pinterest in that regard, and will have the strictest sensitive content settings applied which will stop them from viewing fights, etc. From the parent’s end, they will now have a greater ability to make sure their child is not seeing inappropriate things. The new supervision feature allows them to gain insights into who their teens are chatting with, see what interests they have included, set blocked-off time restrictions, and view screen time.
A major concern when creating these accounts is how exactly Instagram is going to verify ages and prevent kids from lying and putting down adult birthdays. Meta has started a partnership with Yogi, a customer insights company, to help ensure the correct age is being added to the account. Additionally, Instagram has begun the process of creating new technology that will proactively identify younger users, testing for that will start in the US early next year, however.
The hope of creating these new protections is to curb the long-term effects of overconsumption of social media. Unlike other forms of technology, social media is considerably newer and therefore has not been researched as vastly as the internet or computers/phones. The internet we know today did not exist in the 80s when it first came into the picture, but the effects are still being studied. Internet addiction is associated with symptoms of psychosis, including depression, anxiety, phobias, and more. Preliminary studies of social media are already showing it can increase the likelihood of feeling anxiety and depression. The Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association have also expressed their concern for younger user’s mental health in the age of social media.
Audiences have applauded Meta’s effort to protect their underage users, but some experts have said they are too soft on restrictions. Philip Mai, a senior researcher, and co-director of the Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, finds that teens will easily be able to get around restrictions set on accounts. Teens who are using the accounts also think they understand what to and not to do online, and that preventing them from seeing certain information is “never OK.”
Regardless, this is Meta’s first step towards protecting younger users. Though there are many positive changes, there are always some areas to improve. As Philip Mai said, “This is a long time coming and I’m glad they’re rolling out something like this. But as always, with a new feature like this, the devil is in the details.”
Written by Shivanshi Sathe
