What are experts' thoughts on whether Instagram's new 'Teen Accounts' can positively impact young people's mental health?

Instagram is introducing changes for its teen users on Tuesday. Accounts for kids aged 16 and under will be made private, parents will need to approve the lifting of restricted settings, and notifications will be muted from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The Teen Accounts feature aims to mitigate the negative impact of social media on adolescents' mental well-being.

Teens' private accounts on the platform will only allow messaging and tagging from accounts they follow, and a restrictive search will exclude harmful words and content. Additionally, the platform has updated its time reminder feature, notifying teens to log off after 60 minutes daily.

Dr. Shannon Bennett, associate director of the center for youth mental health at NewYork-Presbyterian, says that this is a good first step.

""Using social media can lead to a trade-off between sleep and in-person socialization, but it's positive to see some effort being made," she remarks."

The new features may bring about positive changes, but it is too early to determine their impact.

Social media might be a major factor in youth loneliness

In 2020, a report exposed that Facebook was aware of Instagram's negative impact on youth mental health: 32% of teen girls reported that Instagram worsened their feelings about their bodies, according to a presentation posted on Facebook's internal message board.

In his 2023 report "Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation," U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy identified social media as a significant contributor to young people feeling more isolated.

"Murthy wrote that several examples of harms include technology that displaces in-person engagement, monopolizes our attention, reduces the quality of our interactions, and even diminishes our self-esteem, which can lead to greater loneliness, fear of missing out, conflict, and reduced social connection."

In his book "The Anxious Generation," NYU social psychologist Johnathan Haidt identified social media and smartphones as significant contributors to youth loneliness.

According to Haidt, adolescents going through puberty online are likely to experience more social comparison, self-consciousness, public shaming, and chronic anxiety than previous generations, which could potentially make their developing brains habitually defensive.

'It's encouraging to see some effort being made'

Upon Meta's unveiling of Teen Accounts, experts expressed mixed feelings.

Haidt expressed optimism about the changes, but with caution.

"Of course, this is just the first step in simplifying an ecosystem that requires a more robust way to identify minors and install real age gating, especially for those under 13," his statement read. "While most of the problems with social media will still affect teens on Instagram, this is a good start, and I hope it is just the first of many steps from Meta."

Bennett states that the amount of Instagram use and the content viewed by teens are major concerns for both parents and doctors.

Teens are frequently consuming "extreme or disturbing content" on the platform while sacrificing face-to-face interactions, according to her.

Rewritten: Only time will reveal the effectiveness of the changes, as kids can easily lie about their age.

Bennett states that age restrictions were generally disregarded on other platforms.

A recent study suggests that social media may not be the primary cause of young people's unhappiness.

According to Jeffrey Hall, a communications professor at the University of Kansas, implementing restrictions may not have a significant impact on relationships and social interaction.

Hall states that since there is no clear link between social media use and mental health, it is unlikely that any changes made will have a significant impact on teens' mental well-being.

It is difficult to determine if these changes will benefit those at greatest risk due to the ease of falsifying age.

Hall shares Bennett's doubt that Teen Accounts will be effective, but only time will reveal the outcome.

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