Recently, Facebook announced that they will be creating a version of Instagram specifically for children, which posed additional safety features and content filters, as well as parental control. The popular photo-sharing app was set to go ahead with ‘Instagram Kids’ designed for youngsters aged 13-years and younger.
The preposition was quickly met with backlash from parents all around the globe. The main area of criticism came down to mental health concerns.
Instagram Kids has without a doubt sparked a massive, global debate posing two sets of polar opinions (at the very least), writes Cape {town} Etc’s Robyn Simpson. It’s padding the platform which children use anyway versus taking on a mega-brand in the name of protecting children’s mental health.
In response to the app development, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) leaked data which revealed that Facebook had commissioned research showing Instagram could affect girls’ mental health on issues such as body image and self-esteem.
The study found that Instagram has made body image issues worse for one in three girls and more than 40% of Instagram users said that they felt “unattractive” while using the app, as per The Guardian.
Facebook has since paused the project, however, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, has taken a defensive stance. According to Mosseri children should have access to a version of the app.
“While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we’ve decided to pause this project. This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today,” he wrote in a blog post.
“Critics of ‘Instagram Kids’ will see this as an acknowledgement that the project is a bad idea. That’s not the case. The reality is that kids are already online, and we believe that developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today,” continued Mosseri.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s head of research Pratiti Raychoudhury said that the Wall Street Journal’s revelations are “simply not accurate” that the company’s research showed Instagram was toxic for teenage girls.
“This research, some of which relied on input from only 40 teens, was designed to inform internal conversations about teens’ most negative perceptions of Instagram. It did not measure causal relationships between Instagram and real-world issues,” Raychoudhury said.
The debate continues as The Verge adds that Facebook’s response “ignores many of the issues raised in the WSJ piece, including that teens claimed they felt addicted to Instagram.”
According to BuzzFeed, Facebook — whose family of products is used by billions of people every month — is looking to a younger target market to grow its user base.
“Instagram clearly sees kids under 13 as a viable growth segment, particularly because of the app’s popularity among teens,” the publication stated.
PHD canditate, Priya Kumar, studies the effects of social media on families at the University of Maryland. She said that Instagram for children is a way for Facebook to hook in young people and normalise the idea “that social connections exist to be monetised.”
As well as this, Kumar says that Facebook is laying the foundation to get these children to become ‘adult’ Instagram users in the future. She used YouTube Kids to make her point.
“A lot of children, either by choice or by accident, migrate onto the broader YouTube platform,” she said. “Just because you have a platform for kids, it doesn’t mean the kids are going to stay there.”
The report added that this is a “boon for the company and concerning for parents.”
Following widespread scrutiny, Facebook has turned the tables on the idea of Instagram Kids. Though on pause, the mega-brand is not scrapping the idea. Rather, they are taking control away from the kids and handing it over to parents.
“It’s better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them — where parents can supervise and control their experience — than relying on an app’s ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID,” Facebook said in a recent statement.
Instagram requires users to be at least 13 before they create an account — but many children under that age use the platform anyway.
Instagram Kids is said to be a “practical solution to the ongoing industry problem of kids lying about their age to access apps” and enable children to connect with family and friends in an “age appropriate way,” Facebook told BBC News.
In true Facebook fashion, the announcement has set off an international debate that holds (at least) two, strong opposing interpretations of Instagram Kids.
The question becomes: “do parents fight the mega-giant that is Facebook to protect their children, or do they step into the future with them because tweens are using the platform anyway?”
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