For anyone under 16, Instagram fame is now out of the question. Instagram recently changed its privacy policy for anyone on their platform under the age of 16. Teen accounts have been made private by default for their safety and installed with time management limits. As an editorial board full of teenagers, we support this new implication for the well-being of our fellow students and teens worldwide.
With an age limit of 13, Instagram exposes young impressionable minds to various content. Though there are community guidelines to regulate what is being posted, not everything gets caught. The system is not perfect, and anything can show up in an underage user’s feed. However, from now on, all accounts that have been registered to someone under the age of 18 will go into teen mode. This is an optional setting for all the 16 and 17-year-olds on the app, but anyone younger needs a parent’s permission to turn off the settings.
We as a staff believe that this is a good change. It will keep teens, like many of us, safer online. The majority of complaints regarding Instagram are that young users are receiving direct messages from strangers, being exposed to inappropriate content, and are becoming addicted to the app. The company is addressing these issues to improve the software and keep it age-appropriate for everyone. Direct messages, or DMs, can only be sent and received from people who are friends on the app. Teen accounts also send notifications when the app has been used for an hour or more.
If you think like we do, you might be wondering how they could catch the users who are lying about their age. It is simple; they probably can’t. Instagram is planning to police the devices that already have accounts that are underage; meaning they will not be able to make another account exceeding the age limit on the same device As far as the users who have already lied about their ages, there is no true way to prove that they need to be placed under the teen restrictions.
Instagram’s main motivation to apply all these new changes is to help improve teen mental health. You may think this does not apply to you, but it does. Recent weeks at GHS have shown that everyone needs a friendly reminder to be kind and mindful. The things that you put online live online forever. Even if it is Snapchat, as soon as someone screenshots it, there is no limit on how far it may go.
The revision of social media platforms has been a long time coming. There have been countless occasions of young users being scammed, groomed and even physically harmed from using a social app. We, the Paw Print staff, hope that Instagram will successfully make their platform more user-friendly for all ages. If they find their new implications beneficial, they may inspire other platforms to do the same.
As a staff, we aspire to see our school being safe, kind, and responsible not only in the building but also online. Stay classy GHS.