“We decided to focus on what parents think because they know better what’s appropriate for their children,” says Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, about new changes on the app to better protect users under 18. These sweeping changes will impact any accounts for users between the ages of 13-18 and are meant to address growing concerns from parents, politicians, and even the surgeon general.
In fact, in June of 2024, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the current U.S. Surgeon General, called for social media companies to add “cigarette-like” warning labels about the dangers of social media use for minors. With these sweeping changes, the social media company hopes to address some of these concerns.
Instagram Safety For Teens: Restrictions and Risks
Instagram has slowly incorporated new restrictions and controls for minor users. One of the biggest changes occurred in 2021 when all accounts for users under 16 were automatically set to private when the account was created. However, minors could switch the account to public without parental permission. Additionally, kids under 13 aren’t allowed to create an account. While parents have appreciated this shift, it simply isn’t enough to keep tech-savvy kids safe from the risks of Instagram.
And the risks are significant: kids who use social media for more than three hours a day face twice the risk of mental health concerns, like depression and anxiety. Body image issues can lead to increased risk for eating disorders, especially among girls, with a whopping 67 studies concluding that using appearance-based social media is connected to significant increases in eating disorders. Almost two out of three adolescents report seeing hate-based content on social media “often,” and girls and LGBTQ youth are more likely to be harassed online or experience cyberbullying.
Finally, one of the most distressing aspects of social media use among minors is how predators use the app to find victims. Teens don’t have the cognitive development to understand the risks of social media and are thus more susceptible to the threats of predators.
Instagram’s New Rule: What Are The Changes?
With increasing pressure, Instagram announced new changes to increase the safety of teens on the app in September 2024. These changes aim to find a balance between safety and creativity for minors. Accounts for kids between the ages of 13 and 18 are now called “teen accounts” and hope to ease parents’ worries about social media use for teens.
Notifications At Night
To increase sleep and cut down on screen time, Instagram has added a “no notifications” rule for teen accounts between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Automatically On Private
Previously, all accounts created for someone under 18 were defaulted to private, but the user could change the setting to public whenever they wanted. Now, parent permission is required to change the account to public.
Messaging Safety
DM’s (direct messages) will now show the recipient of the DM to the parent on the parent’s account. The content of the message is still hidden from the parent account, but the recipient will be shown. Additionally, a new setting will prevent teen accounts from messaging accounts they don’t follow. Teen accounts will be restricted from being tagged by accounts of people they aren’t following.
Searched Topics
Parents will now be able to see the topics of posts that their child has chosen to see more frequently, and the FYP (for you page) on Instagram will show less content from people the teen doesn’t follow.
How to Set Up if Your Teen Already Has An Account
This is all great for new users, but what if your teen already has an Instagram account? Instagram has added an option to “invite your teen” to allow you to monitor their account in the Family Center under the Settings menu. This is tricky if you already have a complicated relationship with your teen and their screen time use. Instagram has provided a way to send the invitation to your teen, but they have to accept to use these new tools.
Existing Tools and Settings to Help Monitor Instagram
While this move by Instagram (and parent company Meta) is a step in the right direction, it’s important to note that other settings, tools, and monitoring services can help parents with their teen’s social media consumption.
Apple Screentime Settings
If you have created Child accounts for your kids in Apple Family Sharing, you can set up screentime rules, including app limits. You can set a specific daily allotment for each app or groups of apps in screentime and even set day-specific permissions. For example, if you want to limit the amount of time your child spends on social media on school days to one hour but are willing to let them have more on the weekends, you can set that up in the Screen Time menu for each child. Here is a tutorial from Apple that will walk you through these steps. Here is a similar option for Android users.
Third-Party Monitoring and Controls to Manage Teen Screen Time
For an extra layer of monitoring, we’ve used Bark parental controls. Our method of using Apple Screentime plus Bark monitoring has helped us feel like we can easily manage our children’s devices, set appropriate boundaries, and have open conversations about issues that have popped up.
Safe Social Media Use 101
While these new restrictions for teen accounts on Instagram are a significant step in the direction of keeping kids safe online, it isn’t enough. You can’t count on the social media companies that actively profit from your teen’s time on their app to protect them and set healthy boundaries. Do you remember when Instagram used to have a message in the feed that said, “You’re all caught up.” It was a nice little signal that let you know it was time to be done. Not surprising that it was one of the first things to go when Meta took over Instagram.
It’s crucial that we recognize, as parents, that no setting or software lets us off the hook when it comes to parenting our kids if they are using these devices and apps. We must be actively engaged in teaching and monitoring their children’s social media use, not only to protect them from the negative effects of social media use but also to teach them healthy habits and boundaries for their lifetimes.
First, it’s important to start with connection—kids won’t open up to people they think are criticizing, controlling, or exaggerating the negative effects. As adults, we know how challenging a healthy relationship with social media can be—framing the conversation as a “family” goal might mitigate defensiveness or arguing.
Then, talk about the risks, but don’t use a boogeyman. Use the numerous research studies that show the negative effects of too much or unhealthy social media use. Finally, come up with an internet safety plan together. Take your teen’s ideas into account, and where possible, make concessions that feel appropriate.
For example, if part of your plan is to only allow for an hour of social media use in a day, but your teen wants an hour and a half, find a compromise that will enable your teen to feel that they have some say and control. Building the plan as a team will allow your teen to buy into the plan, hopefully making them more likely to follow the plan.
Keeping Kids Safe Online: In It For The Long Haul
One reason to delay social media use in kids is that once they have it, it’s your job as the parent to monitor that account, which is a big responsibility. The risks can’t be understated, so your responsibility as a parent is significant and lasts until they reach adulthood.
Establishing healthy boundaries, open communication, and safe habits is crucial during the teen years. While the task might feel daunting, more social media companies are implementing similar rules in the hope of making the process a little easier. With your guidance and these new rules, your teen can navigate social media with confidence and support.
If you want to learn more about managing your kids screentime and setting healthy boundaries with devices and apps, check out the Tech Reset Project today.
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