Big Changes to Instagram: Teen Accounts Are Here

Meta has made a big announcement regarding Instagram: As of Sept. 17, 2024, teens who sign up with Instagram will get a Teen Account. Existing accounts in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia that belong to teens younger than 18 will be changed to Teen Accounts within 60 days (by mid-November 2024).

How is a Teen Account different?

Teen Accounts have strict default settings including:

• It will be private. This is probably the most significant change. Only people who follow a teen’s account (teens have to accept followers) will be able to see their account; they will not be visible to the general public.
• It will have messaging restrictions. Teen Accounts will default to the strictest message settings, only allowing teens to message with people they follow or are connected to. The hope is that this will reduce adults messaging teens they do not know, which can have devastating results. Parents will also be able to see who their teens are talking to, but not the content of the messages.
• It will have content restrictions. Teen Accounts will default to the most restrictive content control setting. For example, if a teen searches for “suicide,” “self-harm” or “eating disorders,” related searches will be hidden and the teen will instead be directed to expert resources for help.
• It will limit interactions. Teens can only be tagged by people they follow. Instagram’s feature called Hidden Words will automatically be activated, which hides comments and messages that contain offensive words or phrases (such as racial slurs or curse words).
• It will have time limit reminders. Teens will receive a notification after they have been on the app for 60 minutes in a day. A notification, however, does not stop kids from scrolling (think of that “Are you still watching?” question that pops up when you’ve been watching Netflix for a while). While it can help kids realize how long they have been on the app, it can’t force them to stop.
• It will not allow nighttime notifications. “Sleep mode” will turn off notifications between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Messages will still come through and teens will be allowed to use the app, but notifications will be muted.

Who do Instagram's changes affect?

These changes will be the default settings for all new Instagram accounts for users younger than 18 years old. If teens younger than 16 want these settings changed, a parent or guardian’s account must be linked to their Teen Account and only the adult will be allowed to make changes. If parents want more control over teens 16 and older, they have to turn on parental supervision from their linked adult account. Otherwise, teens 16 to 18 years old can change the default setting themselves.

Will kids be able to get around these new restrictions?

In short, yes, some kids will be able to get around these changes. Teens are notoriously good at getting around rules and restrictions, online or IRL. But Instagram is monitoring for workarounds, including:

• Finding an adult who is not a parent or guardian willing to change their setting. Instagram will be monitoring for red flags such as one adult being linked as a parent or guardian to many teen accounts.
• Teens changing their age on their account, or creating a new account with an older date of birth. Instagram monitors for multiple accounts set up from the same IP address. They will also note a sudden change in a user’s age, which could result in being asked to show proof of their age.

Why were these changes necessary?

There has been a lot of attention recently on the state of youth mental health and the impact of social media. Teens in the U.S. spend an average of 4.8 hours on social media every day, and studies have shown that youth who spend more than three hours a day on social media face a higher risk of mental health challenges (including anxiety, depression and poor body image). The U.S. surgeon general even raised concerns about youth mental health and has recently called for warning labels on social media platforms.

And when it comes to social media, a lot of teens use Instagram. According to the Pew Research Center, 45 percent of teens age 13–15, and 68 percent of teens ages 15–17 say they use Instagram. While it’s not the most-used form of social media (that would be YouTube), that is still a lot of teenage eyeballs on a platform.

Don’t parental controls for Instagram already exist?

Yes, they do. But, according to a Washington Post article, less than 10 percent of teens on Instagram had enabled parental supervision settings. By making more restrictive settings the default, the onus is off parents to have the knowledge, time and tech skills to restrict their teen’s account.