A new feature on Instagram may soon help enhance student safety on social media.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram's parent company) recently introduced Teen Accounts for Instagram, which is aimed at users aged 13-17 and focused on enhancing safety and parental oversight.
These come with several new protections, including:
automatic default to private accounts
restricted messaging (limited to existing contacts)
stricter content filters
features that encourage healthier habits, such as sleep mode and daily usage reminders.
Teens will also have restricted mentions and tags, and parents can view who their teen has messaged, though not the content of the messages.
On the positive side, these updates address rising concerns about keeping teens safe online by giving parents more control and insight into their child’s Instagram activity. Meta also says they are focused on filtering content to be age-appropriate, taking steps to remove sensitive topics like violence and graphic material from teen feeds. The changes aim to create a safer, more positive online environment for young users.
While the new Teen Accounts add valuable features like stricter privacy settings and content filters, they fail to tackle a bigger issue: the platform’s inherently addictive design.
Key features like infinite scrolling and algorithm-driven content suggestions, which are known to encourage excessive screen time and expose teens to potentially harmful material, remain unchanged. Critics argue that while these updates give the impression of improving safety, they don’t address the core problem—Meta’s engagement-focused design, which prioritizes profits and keeping users on the app for longer periods. Without addressing these deeper problems, the new changes may only provide superficial protection for teens.
It’s unclear if these updates will impact the outcomes of the lawsuits brought by over 40 states against Meta. However, the litigation revolves around more significant issues than what these changes address, particularly Meta’s platform design and its effects on youth mental health.
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This message comes courtesy of NavAlert.