Protecting teens online: A guide to parental controls
Parents, it's time to take control of your teen's online safety. Here’s how to use built-in safety tools and parental controls to protect your child from online predators.
A recent incident in KwaZulu-Natal, where a 13-year-old girl was stalked and threatened by a man she met on Instagram, has highlighted the importance of parental controls on social media. As teens spend more time online, parents are rightfully concerned about their safety and well-being.
Social media platforms can be breeding grounds for suspicious characters and online predators.
According to The Citizen, Instagram has introduced a suite of safety tools designed specifically for families, providing parents with more peace of mind while empowering teens to make smarter, safer choices online. These tools include:
Teen Accounts: Built-in protections that limit who can contact teens and the content they see. By default, teen accounts are set to private, and teens under 16 can only change this setting with parental consent.
Supervision Tools: Parents are able to monitor their teen's activity, including time spent on the app, who they follow and who follows them.
Daily Time Limit: Enables parents and teens to set limits on app usage, promoting healthier engagement.
Block, Restrict and Report: This allows teens to block or restrict people they don't want to interact with and report harmful content or behaviour.
Sensitive Content Control: This option filters out potentially upsetting or mature content in Explore and other areas.
Instagram's Family Centre is an educational hub that provides articles and guidance to help parents have meaningful conversations with their teens about their online experiences. The hub focuses on providing practical tools from online safety experts, organisations and academics.
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