Empowered Parent Series Explores New Instagram Teen Accounts

Anna Conti, Associate Director of the Ethics Institute, and Alicia Regnault, EdTech and Support Specialist and REBOOT educator, presented “Understanding Your Child’s Instagram World” as part of the latest Empowered Parent Series. They were joined by the three Middle School leaders of REBOOT Jr., Eva Obalde ’29, Ananya Mittal ’29, and Rhiya Parmar ’29. 

In their discussion with more than 30 parents, Mrs. Conti and Ms. Regnault talked about Instagram’s new Teen Account settings: what they mean, how they work, and how parents can “opt-in” to supervising their children’s accounts. They also explained loopholes to certain policies, and heard how the REBOOT Jr. students interact with social media as Middle Schoolers. 

“This is a very important, necessary conversation,” says Mrs. Conti. “Instagram is putting protections in place for teenagers, but many don’t even know the protections are there. We hoped to share useful knowledge with parents on how to keep their teens safe online. There were lots of great questions about TikTok and Snapchat too, so the conversation will continue about privacy on popular apps.”  

Beyond Instagram, some of the parents expressed concerns about their children’s use of Snapchat, as they’re unable to see or monitor messages and images their children send and receive. Others flagged the issue of private group chats, and the challenge of monitoring them. 

“I recommend using parental controls on Apple devices through iCloud to limit children’s time on messaging apps and restrict access to certain features,” Ms. Regnault told parents. “You can also use supervision or the social media family center per app to control certain features to keep your child safe online.” Ms. Regnault emphasized the importance of education and open dialogue between parents and children about maintaining a healthy relationship with social media. 

Ms. Regnault touched on the risks of platforms such as Roblox, where students can interact with strangers and share personal information. She also explained some of the digital literacy concepts taught to Primary School students to keep their accounts safe, like creating a strong password, passphrase, and online identifiers. 

The next Empowered Parent presentation will be on December 5. James Sherer, a psychiatrist, author, and educator, will speak about the sense of self in a selfie culture. You can find more information about that session, and register, here.