Meta has announced a range of features to make it easier for both parents and teens to manage the time teens spend on Meta’s apps.
When teens have spent 20 minutes on Facebook, a prompt will appear to take time away from the app and set daily time limits. Meta is also exploring a nudge on Instagram that suggests teens close the app if they are scrolling Reels at night.
Take A Break already exists for Instagram, asking users to take a break from the app and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future when someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time.
Quiet Mode on Instagram, a feature to help people focus and to encourage them to set boundaries with their friends and followers, will be made available to everyone on Instagram globally in the coming weeks, following a first-to-market launch in Australia and New Zealand in January.
On Instagram, Meta is also testing people having to send an invite to get permission to connect before being able to message someone who doesn’t follow them. People can only send one invite at a time and can’t send more until the recipient accepts the invitation to connect.
Meta will limit these message request invites to text only, so people can’t send any photos, videos, or voice messages, or make calls, until the recipient has accepted the invite to chat. These changes mean people won’t receive unwanted photos, videos, or other types of media from people they don’t follow.
These are on top of the Safety Notices shown when adults who have displayed potentially suspicious behaviour message teens, as well as the restrictions on those over 19 years old from sending private messages to teens who don’t follow them.
Meta has also added extra tools to Parental Supervision on Instagram to give parents more visibility into their teens’ experiences on the app and to prompt teens to have conversations with their parents with new notifications.
These updates include a notice to teens after they’ve blocked someone, encouraging teens to add their parents to supervise their Instagram account as an extra layer of support; parents being able to see how many friends their teen has in common with accounts they follow and are followed by; and more ways for parents to customise which notifications from Parental Supervision on Instagram they want to receive and how often they receive them.
The updates are a part of Meta’s ongoing work to establish the Family Centre as a central place for parents and guardians to find resources and tools to help manage their teen’s experiences across Meta technologies.
Josh Machin, head of public policy for Australia at Meta, said the company strives to ensure that its community feels safe and in-control when using Meta’s services, and already we have seen great interest in the Family Centre locally after launching it last year.
“These new features reflect our ongoing work to build things that are meaningful for young people across Australia, while still providing them with a rich experience across our platforms,” he said.
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