What you need to know about Instagram’s new Teen Accounts

A child or teen’s social media usage is a tricky thing for parents to navigate. A world of information – both right and wrong – is available in the palm of a child’s hand, not to mention the dangers lurking on social media.

To help parents feel more comfortable with their adolescent’s social media usage, Instagram has introduced Teen Accounts. Teens under the age of 16 will be automatically placed into the new experience, which offers built-in protections and limits who can contact them as well as the content they see.

A few of the specific protections include:

• Time limit reminders to close out the app after one hour each day
• Sleep mode activation between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
• Default private accounts so teens are only interacting and sharing content with their followers
• Sensitive content control to limit the type of sensitive content viewable on Explore and Reels

“In this digital age, teenagers are often on social media throughout the day. It’s important for parents to remind their adolescent to unplug and connect with friends and family in person,” advises Dr. Emma B. Olivera, a pediatrician with Advocate Children’s Hospital.

In order for any settings to be changed, parents must turn on parental supervision and approve or deny requests from their teen. Meta plans to finish rolling out Teen Accounts across the world by January 2025 and unveil across its other platforms next year.

Dr. Olivera cautions that research has proven excessive use of social media can affect mental health. Although social media can be a way to connect, it is still important to use these new features to help limit teen scope of interactions.

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