The Business Press – June 27, 2023 at 11:24PM
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced new parental supervision tools and privacy features for social media platforms. However, many of the features require minors-and their parents-to opt in, raising questions about their effectiveness.
Instagram will now send a notice to teens after they have blocked someone, encouraging them to let their parents ‘supervise’ their account. If a teen opts in, parents can set time limits, see who their child follows or is followed by, and track how much time they spend on Instagram.
While such features can be useful for families in which parents are already involved in their child’s online life and activities, many experts say that’s not the reality for many people.
Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that there is not enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens and called on tech companies to take immediate action to protect kids now.
However, it’s unfair to expect parents to manage everything their children do with rapidly evolving technology, according to Murthy. Therefore, parents must educate themselves on these new parental supervision tools to ensure that they can protect their children online.
The Business Press 