Instagram just announced that they are introducing Teen Accounts - with security features built in, parental controls and more. They tell us it’s for parental peace of mind. Will these new features make it safer for kids? And will they help this parent with their peace of mind?
My kids were older when they got their first account (my youngest is just getting one). This happened for a variety of reasons, including the fact that for a long time they didn’t want the accounts. I will say that I think any delay in using a lot of these apps is likely beneficial to our kids. However, there is an age where it just makes sense and can be helpful (that age likely varies from family to family).
While I was thankful for their delayed interest, I also don’t think we should ignore that young people want to use social media (often in creative, conscious, exciting ways), and many are already using them without parents even knowing. Having a general policy of ‘no’ is not usually effective.
Conversations with our kids and teens about safe internet use have to start earlier than many of us may expect. I’m a Gen X/Millennial combo (geriatric millennial apparently) and my childhood had video games on a home television or at arcades, not in our pockets. We certainly didn’t have access to communication devices.
Now, we have to learn to parent in the era of YouTube, social media, AI and more. No matter our opinions, there’s no denying that things are different.
So, with that in mind, I think Instagram’s approach to having teen accounts can be a good one. They aren’t pretending kids aren’t already using their apps, and honestly, many have been lying about their age to get an account. MediaSmarts’ research has found that young people actually want a different experience with apps than adults, which apps like Instagram are starting to provide. (None are offering kid-friendly privacy policies or ways of consenting to online data collection, which was specifically what the kids in that study asked for.)
Here’s what Instagram says:
“We’re introducing Instagram Teen Accounts to reassure parents that teens are having safe experiences with built-in protections on automatically.
Teen Accounts will limit who can contact teens and the content they see, and help ensure teens’ time is well spent.
Teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of the built-in protections to be less strict within Teen Accounts.”
The big issue, for me as a parent, is the privacy on accounts (teen accounts will automatically be private) and DMs. Kids are using the DMs as text messaging groups, we already know that, but being able to better filter who can message them (i.e. not random strangers) is helpful.
Having safe access to things like social media is important. I’m glad there is some recognition by the platform that there are safer ways to do it and I hope this is a more thoughtful approach.
Related resources:
- Think Before You Share – tip sheet
- Family Online Rules – tip sheet
- Building your brand: Establishing a positive presence online – tip sheet
Other apps like TikTok are also now offering teen accounts too. See MediaSmarts’ Talking TikTok: A Family Guide for more information about those.