Keep an eye on children’s Facebook and Instagram activity:Monitor chats and messages with Meta’s new tool

With the increasing activity of children on social media, parents’ concerns about their online safety have also grown. For this, Meta has launched ‘Parental Supervision Tools’ on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. With this, parents will be able to monitor the social media activities, screen time, and interests of their 13-17 year old children. This tool will also help in controlling sensitive content. According to the ‘National Institutes of Health’, approximately 95% of teenagers aged 13-17 use social media. About two-thirds of them are active on social media every day. And approximately 35% use some social media platform almost all the time. Therefore, today we will talk about ‘Parental Supervision Tools’. Also, we will learn what- Expert: Riddhi Doshi Patel, Child Psychologist, Mumbai What is Meta’s new feature ‘Parental Supervision Tool’? Meta has created the Parental Supervision Tool by updating its Family Center platform. This will help parents understand what kind of content their children view on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and Meta AI, and what topics they are interested in. See the benefits of ‘Parental Supervision Tool’ in the graphic- For what age group of children/teens is this tool? This tool is primarily designed for the online safety of children aged 13-17 years (teenagers). How will this tool work? Facebook and Instagram have a tool called Family Center. Through this, parents can monitor their child’s Meta accounts. The ‘Parental Supervision Tool’ has been added to it. Parents and children aged 13-17 years will need to add their accounts to it. After this, parents can monitor the online activities of their children. How will this tool work? 1. Supervision Setup 2. Information on Interests 3. Monitoring Safety Settings 4. Screen-Time Management 5. Integrated Monitoring What activities of the child will parents be able to monitor with this tool? See in the graphic, what activities of the child parents will be able to monitor- What will parents be able to control through this tool?
Parents will be able to monitor and control some of the child’s activities through this tool- How will this tool be activated on the phone? See the complete process in the graphic: Is the child’s approval necessary to activate this tool on the child’s phone? The children for whom this tool has been developed are teenagers. At this age, children do not have an understanding of decision-making. Therefore, parental supervision is necessary. However, the child’s consent is also necessary for this. This maintains a good understanding between the child and the parents. Will the child’s privacy be safe with this tool? According to Meta, this feature is for safety and guidance. Parents will be able to see information about the child’s activities, screen time, and safety settings, but they will not have direct access to private messages, passwords, and sensitive data. What will parents not be able to see on the child’s phone? Parents will not be able to access this information on the child’s phone- Why has Meta added this new feature to its social media platforms? Meta has added the feature for these reasons: Important QA related to Meta’s new feature Will the child’s consent be necessary for this tool? Yes, in many cases, the child’s consent is necessary to start supervision. Meta’s goal is to strike a balance between supervision and privacy, which is why the consent process has been put in place. Can the child turn off the ‘Parental Control Tool’ if they wish? It depends on age and settings. In some cases, teenagers can request to turn off supervision. But for this, parental approval will be required. Is this feature available in India? Yes, this feature is available in India. Will this feature work on both Android and iPhone? Yes, the Parental Supervision feature works with Meta apps available on both Android and iPhone. An updated version of the app is required for this. What if the child creates a separate account? A new account will not automatically be linked to parental supervision. However, Meta performs age verification to identify suspicious or extra accounts. What if the child enters the wrong age? Meta uses several techniques to verify age. If an incorrect age is found, account settings may be changed or additional verification may be requested. Is this feature also available on WhatsApp? No, currently Meta’s parental supervision system is primarily based on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. Will this feature also apply to users over 18 years of age? No, this feature is primarily designed for teenagers aged 13-17 years. Can parents set time limits on a child’s phone? Yes, parents can set time limits for app usage. This helps control children’s social media usage and develop healthy digital habits. Will the screen time feature become stronger now? Yes, after the new update, parents will get clearer information about screen time. The usage of several Meta apps can be tracked and managed from a single dashboard.