This week, Instagram notified users of new restrictions that create mandatory account settings for teens. The concern from parents about social media is explicit, as they claim their children are being exposed to profound language, inappropriate content, and ambiguous messaging. A variety of doctors have confronted Instagram, advising the company of the mental impact that social media has on young adults.
These teen account settings include many new features including making the account private by default, age verification for anyone over sixteen years old, an anti-bullying feature, a sleep mode that blocks the app from 10pm to 7am, and a nudge to leave the app after an hour spent each day. Teens will also be able to pick topics that will appear on their feed based on their age group and parents will be able to see the choices made. Anyone below the age of 18 will be automatically enrolled in these new features and users under 16 will require parent permission to transfer to a public Instagram account.
One major concern in regards to these changes is their ability to enforce them, particularly in regards to age verification within the app. The company says that they are adding new ways to verify users’ ages in case they try to use an adult’s birthday to avoid the restrictions, but it is unclear as to what those developments will be.
Another expert says that having too many restrictions on Instagram users will cause harm to some teens. A child and their parents may have different views about the content they are interested in and what the child should be viewing. Parents may be limiting their child’s personal development by limiting their exposure and expression of ideas.
A high school student speaking about the new features in The Guardian, 16 year old Sevey Morton, said, “Especially for teen girls, if you ask them what the main problem with Instagram is, they would say body image stuff.” This is a large concern with the use of social media and some feel the adjustments being made will not address body image issues. She also mentions how the damage has already been done for teens her age and that social media platforms are only now acting because a large-scale mental health crisis is occurring and they are “under pressure from lawmakers and advocates” to address the issue.
Despite such criticism, Instagram claims that they are trying to find a balance between users and parental controls. Until these new restrictions are truly experienced by users and adults, the determined impact is ultimately unclear.