Meta, Instagram's parent company, is offering parents new tools for monitoring teens.
The company announced that parents will be able to monitor and limit the time their teenagers spend on Instagram and Oculus Quest virtual realities headsets starting Tuesday. They'll be able monitor their activities and interact with others.
Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, told CBS Mornings that he is a father and wants Instagram to be a leader in teen safety online.
"As a father and someone who has spoken to many experts, we believe parents know best what is best for their children. He said that what excites him most is giving parents more tools to help their children use Instagram and Quest VR in the best way for them.
Mosseri stated that Instagram's new feature will allow parents to have more control over the time their teenager spends on social media sites.
"We're making some changes this week. The parent can now initiate the relationship and can then see how much time their child spends on Instagram. Mosseri said that parents can limit the time they allow their child to use Instagram. One new feature is that they can now choose times of the week when their child cannot use it, such as homework or school.
Quest VR also offers a similar feature to parents. Instagram announced a new "nudge” feature that encourages teens to abandon certain themes or content that they spend too much time on.
The new features are the result of a September report by The Wall Street Journal that stated that top Instagram executives were warned by researchers about potential negative effects of the platform on young users.
Mosseri testified before a Senate subcommittee in December about the dangerous effects of Instagram. He stated that safety for Instagram's teens is always a top priority.
"I believe it is one of our greatest responsibilities to keep teens safe online. This is an industry-wide problem. We are leading the charge on this issue, I believe. We have invested more in safety than any other company. He said that these tools were in the making for a while.
Mosseri said, "I can tell that I'm proud to the work that has been done. But I also believe that as a parent the work never stops and that we must continue to innovate in this space."
Instagram users in the U.S. can now access these new features starting today. These features will be available in other countries such as the UK, Japan and Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Canada and Ireland later this month. Plans are to make them global by the end of 2015.
