After announcing a new project last year to “nudge” teen users away from hazardous content, Instagram has announced that the feature is now available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. If a kid spends too much time on Instagram’s Explore page looking at posts with a specific theme, the app will notify them that they should look at other types of posts instead.
“It’s designed to encourage teens to discover something new and excludes certain topics that may be associated with appearance comparison,” Instagram adds. Users will receive a notification prompting them to “Choose something to explore next,” with a range of posts to choose from instead thereby nudge them. Users can scroll through a distinct stream of content after tapping into a post that isn’t relevant to the topic the adolescent was previously looking at.
US senators had quizzed Facebook on its promises to better protect young users on its apps, citing leaked internal data that revealed the social media company was aware of how its Instagram app was harming young people’s mental health.’
In research examined the effects of nudges on social media use, 58.2 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that nudges improved their social media experience by assisting them in becoming more attentive of their time on the platform.
“Our research shows they are working too: during a one-week testing period, one in five teens who saw our new nudges switched to a different topic,” the company said.
Instagram’s parental supervision options are also being expanded, according to the firm.
Parents and guardians can now ask their teens to use Instagram’s supervision capabilities by sending them invitations. At first, only teenagers were allowed to submit invitations. Parents can also select particular times during the day or week when they want their teen’s use of Instagram to be restricted.
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