Monitoring children in today's world is like walking into a minefield with your eyes open to their social media activities. Social media is a place where teens communicate, learn, and sometimes shape their self-image, but it is also a place where they are exposed. As a result, Instagram, a popular app for teens, has come under fire for its child-friendly experience. This has put pressure on Instagram to develop tools for parental control of Instagram.
However, these controls are fraught with questions. How limited are they? Are they japan mobile database reliable enough? But most importantly, will all of these proposed measures have a safe impact on your teen’s life and future? Scroll down to find out what these new tools can do, how to enable them, and what you should know to keep your kids safe on Instagram .
What's the new Instagram update for minors?
Instagram acknowledges that teens need a different code of conduct than adults, and it's taking steps to ensure it does so. It goes beyond simply restricting social media use to encouraging younger people to use their existing tech platforms more safely. The new update is aimed specifically at users who register as under 18, and addresses some of the issues parents have complained about since the app launched. Here's a rundown of the latest changes:
AI-powered age verification
It may come as a surprise, but Instagram's algorithm has learned how to be more efficient at identifying users' ages. This update is intended to avoid situations where children under seventeen (17) would falsify their age in order to access adult content. Instagram is using AI in this case, trying to weed out all content that is inappropriate for those under the age of 18.
Blocking sensitive content
The new rules state that content with sexual themes and depictions of violence and other content will now be filtered out for children, separating Good ratings from Bad and General content, making it harder for young people to find adult content.
Sensitive content
DM restricted for adults, unknown
Currently, only teens who follow each other can communicate via direct message, while other adults cannot. In this new feature that the social networking site plans to launch, users will be able to prevent strangers from contacting them, which will prevent predators and scammers from contacting them.
Pause reminder
Instagram recently introduced a pop-up notification to its young users, urging them to take a break from the app for a while. That’s why if your teen spends hours on Instagram, scrolling through, it’s a reminder to take a break.
Pause reminder
With this change, I'm glad Instagram is taking steps in the right direction to make the platform safer for young people. However, let's examine the specific rules Instagram enforces and see if they yield any results.
What are the new Instagram restrictions?
To be fair, the restrictions are still in effect to a certain extent. Teens, as you may have noticed, are very skilled at the art of finding ways not to get caught breaking the rules. Here are the main restrictions Instagram currently has:
For users aged 13 and over
In terms of policy control, there is a 13-year age requirement to create an Instagram account. In this case, the existence of this rule has always been based on the honesty policy. It is imaginable that the ability depends on the user to state their correct age during registration with Instagram. But, as is well understood, teenagers have the ability to lie about their age, intending to get the app earlier. Therefore, it should be noted that 13 years and above is the minimum age for using IG, so it is not the most effective barrier.