Does your teen spend hours scrolling though Instagram instead of sleeping at night? Meta has come up with a way to gently parent minors into putting their phones down and getting into bed.
As part of a host of other safety features aimed at children and teenagers, Instagram has introduced ‘nighttime nudges’. These are pop-up messages that will appear when a teenage user has spent more than 10 minutes on the app “late at night,” according to a Meta blog – although it is not clear at what exact time the feature gets activated.
The blog says that ‘nighttime nudges’ have been introduced to promote healthy sleep times among teenagers, who especially need it.
Meta has been criticised in the past for its poor handling of social media addiction and other issues such as bullying and abuse targeted towards children. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the tech giant as well.
In response, the company introduced ‘Parental Supervision Tools’ last year, which allow parents to monitor their children’s time online. They can see how much time their teens are spending online, who is allowed to message them, view their stories, and be notified if their children change any settings regarding these.