Parent's guide: Navigating Instagram with teens

For galore parents, revelations this week from whistleblower Frances Haugen showing interior Facebook studies of the harms of Instagram for teenagers lone intensified concerns astir the fashionable photograph sharing app.

"The patterns that children found arsenic teenagers enactment with them for the remainder of their lives," Haugen said successful Senate grounds Tuesday.

"The kids who are bullied connected Instagram, the bullying follows them home. It follows them into their bedrooms. The past happening they spot earlier they spell to furniture astatine nighttime is idiosyncratic being cruel to them," Haugen said. "Kids are learning that their ain friends, radical who they attraction about, are cruel to them."

So, what tin you bash to support your kids? Experts accidental unfastened lines of communication, property limits and if necessary, enactment monitoring are immoderate of the steps parents tin instrumentality to assistance kids navigate the dangers of societal media portion inactive allowing them to chat with peers connected their ain terms.

IS 17 THE NEW 13?

Ever wonderment wherefore 13 is the property kids tin beryllium connected Instagram and different social media apps? It's due to the fact that the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act went into effect successful 2000—before today's teenagers were adjacent calved (and erstwhile Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckberg was conscionable a teen himself, for that matter).

The extremity was to support kids' online privateness by requiring websites and online services to disclose wide privateness policies and get parents' consent earlier gathering idiosyncratic accusation connected their kids, among different things. To comply, social media companies person mostly banned kids nether 13 from signing up for their services, though it's been wide documented that kids motion up anyway, either with oregon without their parents' permission.

But times person changed, and online privateness is nary longer the lone interest erstwhile it comes to kids being online. There's bullying, harassment, and, arsenic Facebook's ain probe has shown, the hazard of processing eating disorders, suicidal thoughts oregon worse.

In her testimony, Haugen suggested raising the property bounds to 16 oregon adjacent 18. There has been a propulsion among immoderate parents, educators and tech experts to hold to springiness children phones—and entree to societal media—until they are older, specified the "Wait Until 8th" pledge that has parents motion a pledge not to springiness their kids a smartphone until the 8th grade. But neither societal media companies nor the authorities person done thing factual to summation the property limit.

"There is not needfully a magical age," said Christine Elgersma, a societal media adept astatine the nonprofit Common Sense Media. But, she added, "13 is astir apt not the champion property for kids to get connected societal media."

It's inactive complicated. There's nary reliable mode to verify a person's property erstwhile they motion up for apps and online services. And the apps fashionable with teens contiguous were created for adults first. Companies person added immoderate safeguards implicit the years, Elgersma noted, but these piecemeal changes, not cardinal rethinks of the services.

"Developers request to commencement gathering apps with kids successful mind," she said. And no, she doesn't mean Instagram Kids, the task Facebook paused past week amid a wide backlash. "We can't spot a institution that didn't commencement with kids' champion interests successful mind," she said.

TALK, TALK, TALK

Start early, earlier than you think. Elgersma suggests that parents spell done their ain societal media feeds with their children earlier they are aged capable to beryllium online and person unfastened discussions connected what they see. How would your kid grip a concern wherever a person of a person asks them to nonstop a photo? Or if they spot an nonfiction that makes them truthful aggravated they conscionable privation to stock it close away?

For older kids, attack them with curiosity and interest.

"If teens are giving you the grunts oregon the azygous connection answers, sometimes asking astir what their friends are doing oregon conscionable not asking nonstop questions similar 'what are you doing connected Instagram?' but 'hey, I heard this influencer is truly popular,'" she suggested. "And adjacent if your kid rolled their eyes it could beryllium a window."

Don't accidental things similar "turn that happening off" erstwhile your kid has been scrolling for a agelong time, says Jean Rogers, the manager of Fairplay, a nonprofit that advocates for kids to walk little clip connected integer devices.

"That's not respectful," Rogers said. "It doesn't respect that they person a full beingness and a full satellite successful that device."

Instead, Rogers suggests asking them questions astir what they bash connected their phone, and spot what your kid is consenting to share.

Kids are besides apt to respond to parents and educators "pulling backmost the curtains" connected societal media and the sometimes insidious tools companies usage to support radical online and engaged, Elgersma said. Watch a documentary similar " The Social Dilemma " that explores algorithms, acheronian patterns and dopamine feedback cycles of social media. Or work up with them however Facebook and TikTok marque money.

"Kids emotion to beryllium successful the cognize astir these things, and it volition springiness them a consciousness of power," she said.

ADJUST SETTINGS

Rogers says astir parents person occurrence with taking their kids' phones overnight to bounds their scrolling. Occasionally kids mightiness effort to sneak the telephone back, but it's a strategy that tends to enactment due to the fact that kids request a interruption from the screen.

"They request to an excuse with their peers to not beryllium connected their telephone astatine night," Rogers said. "They tin blasted their parents."

Parents whitethorn request their ain limits connected telephone use. Rogers said it's adjuvant to explicate what you are doing erstwhile you bash person a telephone successful manus astir your kid truthful they recognize you are not aimlessly scrolling done sites similar Instagram. Tell your kid that you're checking enactment email, looking up a look for meal oregon paying a measure truthful they recognize you're not connected determination conscionable for fun. Then archer them erstwhile you program to enactment the telephone down.

YOU CAN'T DO IT ALONE

Parents should besides recognize that it's not a just fight. Social media apps similar Instagram are designed to beryllium addictive, says Roxana Marachi, a prof of acquisition astatine San Jose State University who studies information harms. Without new laws that modulate however tech companies usage our information and algorithms to propulsion users toward harmful content, determination is lone truthful overmuch parents tin do, Marachi said.

"The companies are not funny successful children's good being, they're funny successful eyes connected the surface and maximizing the fig of clicks." Marachi said. "Period."

---

---

© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.