Will the New Instagram Teen Accounts Make a Difference?

With growing concerns about the dangers of social media for adolescents, Instagram has rolled out Instagram Teen Accounts. It’s an attempt to offer more protection for the younger generation scrolling through the platform.

As of September 17, 2024, any teen who signs up for Instagram will automatically be placed under specific settings. Teens already on the app will soon follow. The Instagram Teen Accounts also aims to allow parents to have more oversight and involvement in what their teen does on social media.

“These built-in protections really focus in on the biggest concerns that parents have raised,” Antigone Davis, Meta’s Global Head of Safety, tells Parents. “These include the content that their teen is seeing, the people with whom their teen is connecting, and the time they’re spending on their phones.”

So, what does that mean exactly and will it have a positive impact on teens using social media?

What Are Instagram Teen Accounts?

All teens will be placed under several protective settings. Teens under 16 will need permission from their supervisor account—aka a caregiver—in order to change any of these baseline protections. Caregivers can approve requests from their own device. If desired, parents can also setup supervision for their kids 16 and above.

“We know that parents are interested in playing a more significant role in their teens’ lives online, from our consultation with them,” says Davis. “And so we’ve also built out some additional features within our supervision tools.”

Here’s what caregivers and their teens can expect:

• Private accounts: All teens 16 and under will be placed in private account mode. This means only those who follow them will be able to view their content and interact with them. Plus, they will need to manually accept new followers. 
• Stricter messaging settings: Teens will only be able to get messages from their current connections or people they follow.
• Restrictions on sensitive content: New users under 16 will be placed in the “Less” setting on Instagram, while those already on the platform will be sent a prompt encouraging them to choose that setting. The “Less” setting aims to reduce the sensitive content a teen may come across while scrolling the app, such as through Reels, Search, Explore, Hashtag Pages, Feed Recommendations, and Suggested Accounts.
• Interactions will be limited: People who teens follow will only be able to tag them or mention them. The “Hidden Words” feature will also be turned on. That filters offensive words and phrases from comments and direct messages (DM).
• Break reminders: After 60 minutes of app use, teens will be encouraged to close it. Teens over 16 can extend this “Daily Limit” feature, while those younger will need parental permission.
• Sleep mode: This is a new feature and teens will be placed on “Sleep Mode” from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. It replaces the “Quiet Mode” and “Night Nudges” features and will stop notifications at night. If caregivers want to prevent teens from using Instagram completely at night, they can do that through the supervision tool. 
• Choosing topics of interest: This other new feature allows teens to see more content about topics they choose. They’ll start seeing those topics on Explore and in-Feed Recommendations. 
• Monitoring of interests: Parents will also be able to see the topics their teen has selected to see more of. 
• Tracking of teen messaging: Parents will now be able to see who their teen has been messaging, although they will not be able to read the messages.

The changes for teens already on Instagram will happen within 60 days in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. Elsewhere around the world, the new changes will take place in January 2025.

Are There Loopholes?

What about teens who may try to setup a false supervisor account or lie about their age?

Davis says Instagram is working to ensure a supervisor account is indeed a caregiver, such as by preventing an account that is being supervised from supervising another account, and limiting the accounts a caregiver can supervise. 

The platform will also attempt to prevent teens from lying about their age by requesting verification when deemed necessary. “For example, if we see a teen [already using the app] try to set up a new account that’s an adult account, we’re going to require them to verify their age,” she says. “If we see a teen try to change their age to an older age, we’re going to ask them to verify their age.”

Titania Jordan, Chief Parenting Officer + CMO at Bark, a company aiming to protect kids online, points out, “If a child or teenager actually enters their real date of birth, these changes have the potential to truly be effective, but in reality, this will just encourage teens to create adult accounts unless they implement better age verification measures.”

Instagram says it also uses AI to prevent misuse. These tools help the platform learn the common behaviors of teen users—and therefore be able to detect which accounts have been setup with a false age. AI tools can also look at facial features to identify whether or not someone is under or over the age of 18. 

Social Media Dangers for Teens

Experts say protections for teens are necessary as social media can be a dangerous place for them. It’s why the U.S. Senate passed a landmark bill to protect kids online, after all.

In 2023, an annual report from Bark showed a breakdown of the problematic content kids were exposed to via social media. It found 67% of tweens and 76% of teens experienced bullying whether as a bully, victim, or witness; 58% of tweens and 75% of teens encountered sexual content; and 8% of tweens and 10% of teens were exposed to predatory behaviors.

“Any steps Meta can take to reduce the rate of predation and sextortion on their platforms are meaningful and much appreciated—whether that’s across Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp,” says Jordan.

Further, kids and teens were exposed to content regarding self-harm, suicide, disordered eating, drugs/alcohol, and violence. That can include dangerous social media challenges that teens continue to partake in.

On top of that, social media can negatively impact one’s mental health. A 2023 U.S. Surgeon General Advisory shares that adolescents who spent more than three hours per day on social media had double the risk of experiencing mental health issues, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Time will tell if these new protections will make a difference for teens, but experts are hopeful.

“The fact that teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of the built-in protections is critical—we haven’t seen this level of protection from other platforms’ ‘parental controls’ and it’s a key factor to implementation,” adds Jordan.

But Jordan would’ve liked the platform to take it a step further: “Teens deciding who can follow them can be risky, but I get why Instagram didn’t make this a parental-level control. I disagree with that choice, however. This is a pathway to predation/bullying.”

How To Keep Teens Safe on Social Media

Platform protections on social media are important, but they are not always enough. Parents play an important role in helping to keep their children safe online, although it can feel like a challenging job for them.

“It is overwhelming,” says Jordan. “Parents absolutely have to be on top of it, but honestly, it’s not that easy for them to be.”

But the good news is there are ways for parents to navigate the social media world with their kids.

Set rules together

Most social media platforms say children need to be at least 13 years old to use their apps. But many parents allow kids to access social media apps before that age. Jordan says it’s important for parents to be mindful of when their kids begin using any social media.

“We are advocating for waiting as long as possible,” says Jordan. She points to recent research in Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation which says to wait till at least 16. “Children are in a better place and more emotionally mature to handle what social media throws at them at 16 versus 13,” says Jordan, adding, “The later you wait, the better.”

But if your child is on social media, speak with them about setting limits and conditions. “Setting a tone that you and your child are a team to help your child figure out healthy, positive uses of social media means you can have more influence on their habits with regular dialogue,” says Emily Edlynn, PhD, an Illinois-based clinical psychologist and author of Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent, Confident Children.

Opt for safety apps

There are various parental protections apps available, such as Bark, Canopy, and Qustodio. These can offer parents more peace of mind.

For example, Jordan explains, “Bark will connect to over 30 social platforms, as well as text messages, where a lot of the stuff goes down, and email too, and analyze the content and context, and then send parents an alert.” Those alerts may include moments of bullying, when an unknown adult is talking to their kid, or content indicating suicidal ideation. 

Have ongoing conversations 

Open communication about social media can be key to a healthy experience. Having these discussions regularly helps parents check in with their kids and also promotes a teen’s own self-awareness. “Your child can learn how it feels when they are using social media ‘too much’ and develop the skills to limit their time,” adds Dr. Edlynn.

These conversations should also focus on ways social media may negatively affect a teen. For example, photos and picture perfect lives on social media can impact self-esteem.

“Make sure your child realizes how unrealistic pictures are on social media platforms and how these images are distorted with filters and other manipulations,” shares Dr. Edlynn. 

As clinical psychologist Becky Kennedy, PhD, previously told Parents, it’s critical to establish a relationship where your child feels comfortable coming to you when they encounter something that upsets them online. This can help parents connect and problem-solve with their teen.

Know the signs your child is struggling

Despite all the best efforts to keep teens protected online, they may still be impacted by social media. Dr. Edlynn says parents should pay attention to red flags a child is struggling. Those can include:

• Not sleeping because of using social media. “Insufficient sleep is a clear risk for a child developing anxiety or mood problems,” she says.
• Apparent changes in self-esteem. “That could be due to unhealthy social comparison,” explains Dr. Edlynn. “If your child is making frequent negative comments about their appearance, likeability, or self-worth, you’ll want to look more closely at how they are interacting with social media.”
• Changes in their mood. That can include increased irritability, anxiety, or depression. “It’s important to know, however, that evidence suggests children who are already depressed may use social media more,” says Dr. Edlynn. “You may need to look beyond social media as the root of your concerns.”

Know when to give them more freedom or not

How can parents know when their teens can navigate social media safely on their own? It can be a tricky balance. But it ultimately depends on your child, experts say.

Pay attention to how responsible and thoughtful your teen is with their online interactions and boundaries. “They might be ready for more freedom if they demonstrate good decision-making skills, communicate openly about their social media experiences, and follow agreed-upon rules,” shares Ann-Louise Lockhart, PsyD, ABPP, a parent and child psychologist. “But if they’re secretive, struggle to self-regulate, or show signs of being negatively affected by their time on Instagram (like anxiety or comparison issues), it might be a sign that they need more guidance and restrictions.”

Hina Talib, MD, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist, agrees, saying it’s about a teen’s maturity and ability to use Instagram successfully.

“Success could look like they feel good about their time and experiences on Instagram and they learn how to navigate uncomfortable social situations online, just as they need to do IRL,” says Dr. Talib. “Success to me would also mean that they have balance in their lives with experiences that are online and in person and that their media use does not negatively impact their school, sleep, or mental health.”

While both experts believe Instagram’s new protections will help teens use social media more safely—especially the filtering of who can contact them—it also comes back to communication. Make it a point to continue to have ongoing conversations even if your teen gains more freedom to use the platform.