Instagram

I have 2 kids, a daughter whos 14 and a son whos 16. I remember having a conversation with my oldest when he was about 11. He was saying all his friends had it and all that. I did some of my own research and told him that he needed to be 12. . There were going to be some rules though, his Mom I and would follow his account. We did not want him to waste a lot of time on it. Instagram does make time fly, we didnt want him to be a pariah but we wanted him to not waste too much time on it. He has a screen time limit of 2 hrs a day; Instagram/Gaming/Youtube/Netflix are all mixed in this. Normally we wouldn't care how he split the time, but gaming has benefits to the brain while Instagram does not. The maximum amount he could ever spend on it was 35 minutes. And we checked every week. He did go over it sometimes so we had to reinforce the rules and suspend it once in a while. He is now 16 and still follows the rules. As parents we tend to underestimate kids, if you clearly state rules and punishments, they will follow. With my daughter I was worried about creeps. I was worried about the bad people getting to communicate with her. I let her get Instagram for her 14th birthday, we had very strict rules for her. She could follow only her friends and celebs. NO STRANGERS. Strangers could follow her because teens want followers but, she could only follow her friends. We made it clear to her that if someone started flirting with her over Instagram, and she didnt know them, it was not ok. We wanted her not to be scared of us forcing her to delete it so that was not an option. What I've learned from friends children is that if you do not let your child use it, they will use it on their own terms ignoring you. That opens many bad doors, its better to let them know that we are allowing them, not that they are doing it themselves. After all, how long can parents control their kid. Instagram is a double sided sword. Used wisely it can be a good tool. Used unwisely, could lead to problems. As parents that's where we come in, don't be afraid to take their phone without warning and check it. Before giving them Instagram lay out the rules. My rules are; 1. Strangers can follow, but no conversations with them. 2. Parents follow the account to see what stuff they post. 3. Strict time limit of 35. 4.Parents can search phone if wished. 5. It can be suspended until further notice as punishment. PS: I have found that Instagram is much safer than Facebook and SnapChat.

Yep, this app is actually a nice app for sharing art and getting positive feedback, never have a once got any mean comments or anything like that. Yes the internet tends to have nudity and swearing, but the things you scroll through are only people you follow, so unless you follow someone bad it won’t happen, also if you VERY worried about that stuff, than stay away from the search section, and delete direct messages from strangers, also you can make your account private, I HAtE When kids act like they are adults on here when they ARE Children! That needs to be stopped. But overall I’d let my teen have this over the WAY more explicit tik Tok. Thanks for reading! ❤️

I think this app is very appropriate for all ages and should be used to shape young minds and inform them of the things going on in the world

I thought Instagram was really good for mental health, to make connections, and to be popular. But I really felt used, betrayed completely, and backstabbed behind my back. Even I received social discrimination in society, rejection, exclusion, stress and anxiety. But you know what? You will never get a second chance after all the damage you attempted to accomplish. Please, reconsider of having social media. It will use you, make a profit of you, exploit you, and act like nothing happened in front of you. Instagram, thanks for helping me see the 2 faces of the coin. On one side you are nice when actually you are a miserable treacherous social media app. In fact, I hope you get sued and end completely because of all the damage you have done to millions of people. Also, because of all the things that whistleblower has said. Already GOODBYE!!!

I don’t care how many safety and parental settings they have on social media apps the kids these days can find their way around them and outsmart most parents. Instagram is fun and all, but there’s a huge distortion in reality that young children can be affected by from way too many “influencers” that post themselves doing dangerous stunts or sexualized pics of themselves, because they get paid for every click. Just let your child be a child .. not a kid that is getting their self worth from a social media app. They will imitate what they’re viewing you can guarantee that.

Social media is a huge influence and instagram is guilty of making it seem like everyone else's lives are perfect. It's great for sharing photos with other people but I'd make sure your kid keeps a private account until they're about 16/17+