So many people found themselves migrating their photo sharing to Instagram several years ago because of their chronological timeline. As Facebook became more algorithm based, people felt like they had no control over what they were seeing on their timelines so they opened Instagram accounts. A few years ago Instagram went the way of the algorithm as well trying to give posts you are most interested in a higher priority in your feed. This was met with mixed reactions and now Instagram is working to give you more control.
The first addition, effective now, is the “Mute” feature. This allows you to hide posts from your feed without completely unfollowing them. This could be useful for hiding bullies without letting them see that you’ve unfollowed (which could encourage even more bullying) and just helping the algorithm know your preferences even better. To mute someone simply press the three dots to open the menu on a post. Select Mute in the menu and that’s it, you shouldn’t see posts from that user anymore.
The second announcement is for updates that haven’t made their way to users yet. Soon, Instagram will include an insights feature that will allow you to see how often and how you use the social media service as well as a notification when you’ve seen all the posts from the previous 48 hours. Instagram and parent company Facebook are hoping that these features will improve the user experience by helping them develop better usage habits. There has been more of a focus recently on improving the “overall well-being” of their users. Some of the recent updates on YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram have been attempts to encourage more engagement within their communities without having to spend as much time using their services.
What Parents Should Know
Any changes made to social media sites that encourage breaks from screens are good changes. But nothing will replace a parent setting limits for their children. Remember, also, that there is no better lesson than your own example. Monitor your own screen time and make healthy choices so that you can advise your kids from a place of leadership. Instagram’s new mute feature will help moms and dads keep unwanted posts away from their kids as well as help older kids silence those they don’t longer want to hear from.
My hope is that as parents we can guide our children into proper use of social media. Statistics are showing that the chance of depression increases the more our children use social media. More depression increases the rate of suicide among young people. In fact, suicide is now the second leading cause of death among teenagers. With these facts in place, even the social media services themselves are taking notice and making changes. Parents, do not allow yourself to be caught in the dark when it comes to your kids and safe use of their technology. While Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube have been making changes, the responsibility does not fall to these companies to protect our children. It falls to us, their parents.