As social media continues to expand and grow into our everyday lives and society, the worry of teen safety grows as well. Instagram has made some new changes to their platform on teen accounts. The restrictions are for teens under 18 and is there to help teens mental health sleep and safety online.
Up to 95% of youth ages 13-17 report using social media, National Institutes of Health said.
“I think I got it at 13 or 14, I think it was a good age because I wasn’t too young,” senior Ava Fox said.
Most kids get social media in middle school and that can be very harmful, but it can be used as a tool to connect with peers. When getting social media in school having privacy restrictions can be helpful for the transition into it when people are posting things teens should not be introduced to yet.
New and existing users under the age of 18 will be automatically enrolled in a “Teen Account,” ABC News said.
Junior Kaelynn Grecian said it feels unnecessary and a little bit of a violation of privacy because those restrictions should be up to each individual child and parents, not the app.
There should not be an automatic switch to the account the parents should decide what happens to their child’s account. Some parents are fine with their child having more access to the internet and other are not, but social media platforms should not get to choose what the parents do the parents can make a private account for their child if they want. Many families have different boundaries on topics. Making one universal account for everybody is not going to be perfect because, many different families have different rules. Not all families agree with social media and the issues it brings. Some children won’t be able to get it until they are much older and even then there will be some restrictions. Other children will get it younger with not as many restrictions. It all depends on the individuality of the family.
Social media can include positives like communication and good influencing from the right accounts or people explained Common Wealth.
Junior Sunshine Yang thinks platforms “can be both positive and have good influencing and mindset goals” online.
On social media there are bad and inappropriate things, but there are also positives. Some kids are able to be their real self without judgement when they are in groups that share the same interests. These types of discussions help teens with communication and can help make them feel like they are accepted into a group of people. Influencers are very popular on social media and can help influence teens to do the right things depending on what they post. Some accounts are just for mindset goals and good influencing.
Online platforms are required to consider the best protection for teens and children U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said.
“I think that it can be helpful for younger kids,” Fox said.
Online platforms with required privacy settings for teens and kids are helpful for people just starting out on social media. Transitioning into social media and the internet can scare parents so having a privacy setting that allows for kids to accept followers and only allow for appropriate content can be supportive for new teens and parents online. With time the child and parent can choose what the teen does next with their account.
If these app restrictions continue on to other social media apps, parents should take advantage to keep their children safe. However, they should also research what negatives the private account can have and give their child some privacy on the account. Overall, these restrictions will be good for teens and can help ease kids into having social media. Now is the time to use Instagram restrictions as a tool to start kids on social media and protect teens from inappropriate content online.
