With advancement in technology, things have been changing drastically in everyone’s life. Whether you want to connect with someone who lives far away or whether you want to stay updated related to new music or movies, things are now just a click away. Apart from the other social networking sites, Instagram is another mobile application that has been tremendously used by the teenagers today. The cool effects that can be applied to your pictures, the borders, brightness effects make your pictures and your life look a little more attractive and awesome, which is why it is becoming one of the favourite applications of the kids as well as the teenagers. With increasing use of this app, it is important for the parents to know what and how their children are making use of it. Given below are a few things that parents should know about Instagram. Read below to find more:

Instagram Parents Info: 7 Things Parents Must Know

Privacy Settings

The first and foremost thing that every parent should be aware of is that Instagram settings are set to ‘Public’ by default. This means every post or picture your child shares on Instagram can be seen by everyone on Instagram. However, this can be changed in the settings where the account can be made ‘PRIVATE’. This will ensure that only certain people your child accepts on Instagram, will be able to see the posts your child will share in the future.

Direct Message

Most of the parents are unaware of this Instagram feature. This is basically a chat feature in which people you follow can send you direct messages. This can be easily viewed by tapping on the topmost right corner of the screen where all the recent conversations can be easily viewed. Apart from this, even if there is someone whom your child has not allowed to follow, can also send them private messages but these messages will appear as request and the conversation will only be continued if your child will accept the request of that particular person.

Inappropriate Material

There is a search bar or a magnifying glass area where your child can easily search for his/her friends or other popular faces on Instagram. Apart from this, the area also enables your child to search using hashtags, for instance #laugh, #party etc.  This further expands the area of interest for your child on Instagram, which means that your child can also find endless inappropriate material on Instagram and the search history can be instantly cleared by selecting ‘Clear Search History’.

The ugly side

There will be days when your child will feel extremely low only because they viewed certain profiles that seemed to be a lot fascinating to them. This creates a sense of comparison and they might feel inferior in comparison to the other fancy profiles on Instagram. It is conspicuous that the number of teenagers who are unhappy with their body is constantly rising. This may lead to sudden changes in their behaviour and you might hear them talking about things they haven’t talked about before.

Age Requirements

As per Instagram requirements, children must be 13 years of age in order to avail its service. The minimum age requirement has been set by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. This also states that if a child of age 8 or say 10 joins Instagram by pretending to be of 13, COPPA does not ensure any responsibility of protecting the individual. So, it is imperative for you to take the activities of your child into notice.

Personal information

Just like other social networking sites, Instagram also require the basic details including the display name, profile picture and bio. All of this is visible to anyone who uses Instagram, including those who do not follow your child. Apart from this, there is a also a section of ‘Private Information’ which requires the phone number, but it is not mandatory to enter. So, make sure that you insist your child to leave that particular section blank, in order to be on the safer side.

Location

Instagram can share your child’s location if you allow it to. Your child can tag certain locations in some photos if he/she wills. However, if you do not want to let your child share the location, you can simply turn it off in the settings. Similarly, you can also keep a check on the other apps that use the location while operating it.

It is completely your choice if you want to allow your kid to make use of the apps like Instagram, after all there is no harm in using it. Instagram does its best to protect the interests of all but a little more research and control on your side is needed to ensure the safety of your child.