An Open Letter to Mr. Zuckerberg: Stay Away From My Kids
Instagram for kids will not leave the world a better place for all children.
My friend, Emma*, struggles with her daughter over one thing, just one.
But this issue is at the root of all conversations, arguments, and whispered accusations.
Her 11-year-old, Amy* wants to join Instagram because, guess what, all her friends are on it.
Emma stands firm. Instagram’s age limit is 13, making it illegal for her daughter to use it. Also, she reckons Amy is not emotionally equipped yet to join the worst social media platform for youth mental health, friends or no friends.
Instagram for children under 13
So imagine Emma’s reaction in April after reading the internal Facebook memo published by Buzzfeed announcing its plans to launch a kids’ version of Instagram for children under thirteen.
The internal post states that Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, will oversee the work, led by Pavni Diwanji, a vice president responsible for YouTubeKids and other child-focused products.
Instagram 2.0: giving parents (the illusion of) control?
When interviewed by Buzzfeed News, Mosseri said ‘more and more kids’ want to use apps like Instagram. However, he added that it is hard to verify their age, as kids don’t get identification documents until they’re older.
‘Part of the solution is to create a version of Instagram for young people or kids where parents have transparency or control.’
This new version might give parents more control; we don’t know yet. But we do know that the current platform’s focus on appearance, self-preservation, and branding poses challenges to teens’ privacy and wellbeing.
Parents grappling with teens on social media
When you think of a younger audience, you can see where parents like Emma might struggle. At 11, children are only learning to navigate friendships while developing their inner selves. They don’t need an algorithm to predict, manipulate and disrupt their decision-making.
According to a Pew Research study, two-thirds of parents thought parenting was more difficult due to technology, with 21 per cent listing social media as a reason.
In addition, fifty-nine per cent of US teens reported being bullied on social media in general, and over one in five 12-to-20-year-olds experience bullying specifically on Instagram.
Considering the above, version 2.0 doesn’t bode well for our children’s future well-being.
Bullying on Instagram
With 72 % of US teens on Instagram, the platform provides plenty of benefits, from chatting to mates, meeting new ones, keeping in touch with faraway friends, and sharing photos.
But like all teens through the ages, friendships come and go, and Insta drama is never far away. When teens fall out, Instagram can amplify spiteful comments or hurtful photographs by making them go viral.
The most common bullying ways are through hate pages and direct comments, although the platform announced two new tools to combat harassment, abuse, and hate speech in April this year.
Still, will these combat anonymous gossip or ‘tea’ pages, where rumors of your kids’ high school are laid bare in all its lousy spelling glory?
Instagram: a playground for eating disorders?
A 2017 study finds that increased time on Instagram is linked to a rising risk for eating disorders for users.
Other research shows that teens frequently viewing selfies led to “decreased self-esteem” and “decreased life satisfaction”.
Also, young girls have learned their online popularity will grow if they post sexualized photos.
Instagram: a groomer’s paradise?
In 2019, the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the UK announced it found a 200% rise in recorded instances in the use of Instagram to target and abuse children.
Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the NSPCC, commented:
“These figures are overwhelming evidence that keeping children safe cannot be left to social networks.
We cannot wait for the next tragedy before tech companies are made to act. It’s hugely concerning to see the sharp spike in grooming offenses on Instagram, and it is vital that the platform designs basic protection more carefully into the service it offers young people.”
Instagram has since stated its new rollout aims to curb abuse by limiting messages between teens and adults they don’t follow and other restrictions.
Calls on Facebook to scrap Instagram 2.0
However, these measures aren’t enough to convince a group of 44 State Attorneys General that Facebook can provide a safe space for children; see MSNBC’s report.
Also, the non-profit organization Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood (CCFC) demands Facebook cancel the kids’ version of Instagram.
In its open letter to Mr. Zuckerberg in April, the CCFC states:
‘Facebook’s long track record of exploiting young people and putting them at risk makes the company particularly unsuitable as the custodian of a photo-sharing and social messaging site for children.’
And,
‘Leaked documents have revealed that Facebook boasted to advertisers that it could target teens at the exact moment they were feeling bad about themselves, including when they have negative thoughts about their bodies’
Facebook’s bottom line is all that counts
With Facebook’s drive to increase its current earning power of $200,000 per minute, its appetite for world domination, and TikTok competing for market share, the company needs new social connections to monetize.
Create customers for life by starting them young, very young
A 2.0 version would be a way to hook kids and migrate them to the current Instagram as they turn thirteen.
But if Instagram follows the same troubled path as YoutubeKids (inappropriate content & undergoing an investigation into insufficient content moderation, a high degree of product placement, and low-quality content). Or even Messenger for Kids (a technical flaw allowing strangers to enter group chats with kids) — parents, like Emma, should be concerned.
Also, it’s unlikely that Amy’s friends, who are 11 and on Instagram now, will move to Instagram 2.0 once they have sampled the adult version.
What can parents do?
Here’s what I would advise Emma:
- Inform yourself: read the CCFC letter or the National Association of Attorneys General letter.
- Sign CCFC’s petition calling on Facebook to cancel its plans.
- Consider what your kids are learning from your social media use.
Final Words
We learned Facebook is planning to develop an Instagram version for kids.
Time will tell but with Facebook’s previous form- is the company more concerned with creating a safe space for our younger children, or is it feeling TikTok’s hot breath and eager to monetize our children’s personal relationships?
But apparently, not their own, as Silicone valley parents are known to send their kids to low-tech Steiner schools, where children are not exposed to technology until they are twelve to thirteen years old. Even employment contracts require nannies to keep their charges off devices and prohibit them from using their phones in front of them.
Whether Facebook is responding to a need or simply creating one. I do wonder when Mark Zuckerberg stated
‘a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children.’
(in an open letter to his daughter Max, announcing the multi-million Chan Zuckerberg foundation) was he thinking about creating tiny customers? Or is it simply a case of giving with one hand and taking with another?
Let’s hope for Amy’s sake that Mr. Zuckerberg heeds his own words, scraps his plans, and leaves the world a better place for all children.
*Not their real names.
Further reading:https://www.rsph.org.uk/static/uploaded/d125b27c-0b62-41c5-a2c0155a8887cd01.pdfhttps://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28251592/https://www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/news-opinion/2019/over-5000-grooming-offences-recorded-18-months/Want to write for The Pink? We’d love to have you in our community of 200+ writers. Or Follow us on Instagram for more.