Giving a preteen or teenager access to social media is something that many parents contemplate, particularly when their children are putting pressure on parents for permission. Many social media websites will allow someone to form an account once they reach age 13, but the sites verify this with different social media platforms to determine if this is accurate. There are many reasons why you may be concerned about your child having a social media profile, so it is well worth the effort to look into a guide to parental controls on social media and to take every proactive step you can to keep your child safe.
There are numerous benefits to using parental controls. Social media harm is a serious issue and one that affects kids all over the world. The increased reliance on social media and daily use has multiple possible impacts on children, especially when it comes to mental health. That's why a guide to parent controls on social media can help parents make informed decisions about how their children use social media apps and websites.
Today, many parents have to deal with the Fallout of various forms of social media harm. This can include a child experiencing outright bullying or even a child beginning to show signs of anxiety, depression, or even suicidal thoughts. All of these are serious issues that may relate back to your child's underlying physical and mental health, and if your child has already taken negative actions that have harmed their health, you may have grounds for a social media harm lawsuit.
Instagram
Instagram has an educational resource hub for parents with articles and expert tips on user safety. Furthermore, Instagram comes with a tool that allows guardians to set time limits for how much time minors spend on Instagram and to see reports of how much time is logged on the app. Parents can also get updates on the accounts that follow their children, as well as the accounts their children follow, and can see if their child attempts to make an update to the account or privacy setting.
Additionally, parents are able to see which other users on Instagram their child has blocked and can view video tutorials for parents to help implement these new supervision tools.
Snapchat
Snapchat features a hub and parent guide that is designed to give guardians more insight into how their teenagers are using the app, including who they've had conversations with in the past week. Parents cannot see the content of those conversations, however, but may be able to see more about who their child is communicating with via Snapchat.
There are also a few other safety measures for young users, such as requiring teens to be mutual friends before they're able to start communicating with each other and prohibiting them from having public profiles. Teens have a location-sharing tool that is turned off by default, but it can disclose their real-time location with a friend or family member while the app is closed as a safety precaution.
Another tool developed by Snapchat is known as the “friend checkup” tool, which encourages users to look at their existing connections on the platform and to determine whether they still want to remain connected to that person.
Facebook
Facebook maintains a safety center that has many resources and supervision tools from leading experts. The hub includes parental supervision tools developed by the nonprofit Connect Safely, which helps parents to see which accounts their teens have blocked. Parents can also use supervision tools and approve download or app purchases that are blocked by default, based on whether the tool may be inappropriate or based on its overall rating.
TikTok
A new maturity score was added to videos to help prevent the viewing of materials with complex or mature teens. People can also decide how much time they want to spend on TikTok. This tool lets users establish regular screen time breaks and features a dashboard that displays a user’s nighttime and daytime usage and how many times they've attempted to open the app overall.
Parents and teens can also customize their safety settings using a family pairing hub. A parent’s TikTok account can be used to establish parental controls, like restricting certain content exposure, determining if teens can search for live content, hashtags, or videos, establishing whether the account is public or private, and reviewing how much time can be spent on the app each day.
The app can also block some features for younger users, such as direct messaging or live viewing. When a teen under the age of 16 is eligible to publish their first video, a pop-up will ask them to determine who they want to be able to see it. Push notifications are also blocked at 10 p.m. for users ages 16 and 17, and at 9 p.m. for users ages 13 to 15.