Facebook announced not long ago that it was planning on creating an Instagram for Kids, however, from the announcement the tech giant made this Monday the plan seems to be on hold now.
The current version of Instagram has the age criteria of 13 and above, however, the tech giant had announced that it will be launching a separate Instagram application for kids in between the age of 10 to 12. Facebooks’ idea was called out by a lot of lawmakers and people who claimed that the age limit wasn’t appropriate for such young minds to be on the application and that the tech giant should call off its idea.
However, Facebook was very determined, but has now put its plan to a temporary stop. Why is that?
Well, this happened after the Wall Street Journal shared a detailed report in which they pointed out why Instagram was harmful for teenagers, which Facebook thinks is not entirely true, and how over the past three years their survey has showed how the social giant is affecting the youth, and especially the young girls.
It further evaluated that 13 percent of British and 6 percent of American teens who were reported for suicidal thoughts had a strong link to social media. This backed up the Wall Street Journals’ school of thought and many other lawmakers and well-known personalities like Trahan and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn had their concerns related to Instagram Kids and wanted Facebook to put their idea aside permanently.
They believe that is great that Facebook has suppressed their plans for an Instagram version of kids under the pressure from the public and lawmakers, however while this idea is on hold right now, it should be permanently called off in the future. Social media can be a toxic place for the young minds and its portraying of a perfect lifestyle and people seeming to have everything sorted can be a pressure for the young that they need to be like that to. All this is very deceiving and harmful for the young minds. Not only this but a lot of other factors like harassment and abuse online should also be considered.
However, Facebook has claimed that while it has halted its idea right now, they do plan on continuing it in the near time frame. Their back up statement to these allegations was that kids nowadays already have an exposure to social media and applications like Instagram. Many kids lie about their age to make accounts online and the tech giants’ only purpose to create a separate application for Kids is to provide them with an application where their content can be moderated according to their age and they have age appropriate experiences online under the guidance of their parents.
picture alliance via Getty Images
Read next: Global Top 500 Apps Had Over 90 Million Active Users Each in Q2 2021
The current version of Instagram has the age criteria of 13 and above, however, the tech giant had announced that it will be launching a separate Instagram application for kids in between the age of 10 to 12. Facebooks’ idea was called out by a lot of lawmakers and people who claimed that the age limit wasn’t appropriate for such young minds to be on the application and that the tech giant should call off its idea.
However, Facebook was very determined, but has now put its plan to a temporary stop. Why is that?
Well, this happened after the Wall Street Journal shared a detailed report in which they pointed out why Instagram was harmful for teenagers, which Facebook thinks is not entirely true, and how over the past three years their survey has showed how the social giant is affecting the youth, and especially the young girls.
It further evaluated that 13 percent of British and 6 percent of American teens who were reported for suicidal thoughts had a strong link to social media. This backed up the Wall Street Journals’ school of thought and many other lawmakers and well-known personalities like Trahan and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn had their concerns related to Instagram Kids and wanted Facebook to put their idea aside permanently.
They believe that is great that Facebook has suppressed their plans for an Instagram version of kids under the pressure from the public and lawmakers, however while this idea is on hold right now, it should be permanently called off in the future. Social media can be a toxic place for the young minds and its portraying of a perfect lifestyle and people seeming to have everything sorted can be a pressure for the young that they need to be like that to. All this is very deceiving and harmful for the young minds. Not only this but a lot of other factors like harassment and abuse online should also be considered.
However, Facebook has claimed that while it has halted its idea right now, they do plan on continuing it in the near time frame. Their back up statement to these allegations was that kids nowadays already have an exposure to social media and applications like Instagram. Many kids lie about their age to make accounts online and the tech giants’ only purpose to create a separate application for Kids is to provide them with an application where their content can be moderated according to their age and they have age appropriate experiences online under the guidance of their parents.
picture alliance via Getty Images
Read next: Global Top 500 Apps Had Over 90 Million Active Users Each in Q2 2021
