Big News: Meta announced on its blog last week that they are upping child protection on their Apps. They are hoping to “Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps.”  

Meta announced

• Content Restriction Expansion: Meta will increase the range of content being hidden from teens on Instagram and Facebook, guided by expert advice.

• Automatic Strict Settings: All teen accounts will be set to the strictest content control settings by default on both Instagram and Facebook, along with additional search term restrictions on Instagram.

• Privacy Settings Prompt: Teens will receive new notifications on Instagram, encouraging them to update their privacy settings quickly and easily with just one tap.

Even though I wish there had been earlier and more effective changes, I am still happy to see things moving in the right direction. Mental Health experts, like myself, disagree about where to draw the lines with content access, but everyone welcomes that Meta is admitting changes need to be made and is finally acting. I want to dive deeper into these changes and some of their pitfalls.

The first major change

Teens will no longer be shown content that involves eating disorders, self-harm, nudity, and goods such as alcohol, weight-loss products, and gambling. In the past, this content was limited to public discovery pages; the new rules hide this content even if it’s shared by someone the teen knows. 

When reading about this change, I have to think of a friend of mine whose daughter suffered from anorexia. Her daughter found support groups online and other teens recovering from anorexia. My friend and her daughter might argue that this was a big help. I understand this, but these spaces shouldn’t be online. Teens need more third spaces in communities to get together in person, meet up, share experiences, and ask for help. Many teens post troubling things online as a way of asking for help. We need to teach them to ask us, the adults, for help. I have a blog post where I dive into third spaces, which you can find here.

The second change

Teens will have “sensitive content control” on by default. This further limits access to potentially upsetting content. Just recently, a teen told me that schools and adults were failing to discuss gore and some of the horrific things they see online. He reported as a 12-year-old, he came across this content and was horrified and did not want to tell his parents but, at the same time lost sleep over the images he had seen. This new default setting will protect teens who do not wish to encounter such content. 

The third change

This is great news. When teens search for terms related to self-harm and eating disorders, results will be hidden, and they’ll be directed to expert resources instead (see image). Often, teens report that they don’t know where to turn. 

The fourth change

Teens will get a notification prompting them to update their privacy settings. I am skeptical this will work because most teens will ignore the notification. Teens are bombarded by notifications and are used to ignoring them. On a side note, I have recently noticed that Teens are very confused about online privacy and its meaning. I question the use of the term 'privacy settings' as it suggests the possibility of being private online, which can be misleading. I will dive into this in a blog post this year as the topic is important to understand. To give some insight, recently, a teen was in trouble for sending offensive private messages to a classmate. During the discussion about the posts, the teen insisted the school had “no right” to get involved as the messages were private and it wasn’t their problem that someone was easily offended by their different opinions. In discussions about private Discord servers and encrypted messages, I've observed significant confusion among teens about online privacy and the misunderstandings stemming from this term. I invite anyone reading this to discuss online privacy with those around them. You can do this as an educator or a parent and will immediately see the complexities, misconceptions, and confusion that remain. A practical approach is to use a news story about someone facing consequences for their online actions as a starting point for discussion. 

The ways this system might be tricked

As always, teens are smart and will find workarounds. 

The first trick is changing your age to 18. Many teens are already on the App at the wrong age from the get-go. This means parents must check that the age settings are correct on Instagram and have conversations with their children about the importance of these settings and why they are there.

Secondly, the setting can be turned off for sensitive content, so if a child is curious, they can change that setting. 

What does this mean for us as educators and parents?

Children and teens tell me non-stop they do not want to see this content, and almost always, it was by chance that they ended up seeing these things. They want more protection, and hopefully, these changes will help. This, however, is just for Instagram and Facebook; teens see this content in many places. In short, this is good news, but we need to continue our discussions with our children, we need to continue to educate, and we need to create spaces for teens to be together and get help without technology.

I've explored the significant steps Meta is taking to protect our teens online and the implications these changes have for us as parents, educators, and mental health professionals. But this conversation doesn't end here. Your experiences, insights, and opinions are invaluable in this ongoing dialogue. How do you think these changes will impact our teens? Are there other measures you believe should be taken? How can we, as a community, further contribute to creating safer online spaces for our young people?

I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments below. Let's collaborate to foster a more informed and proactive approach towards online safety for our teens. Together, we can make a difference. Comment, share this post with your network, and let's keep this important conversation going.

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–Allison Ochs, social pedagogue/worker, author, mother of three, wife

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