Instagram

How Instagram works

Instagram is a social media platform owned by Meta known for its emphasis on visual content. Every post must feature an image or video, unlike other social media platforms (such as Threads, Meta’s other social media platform, that requires an Instagram login) that allow text only posts. Users can also share content in the form of Stories, which are images or videos that disappear after 24 hours. In addition to posts, users can directly message each other, have video calls and create group chats with other users.

Minimum age requirements

Instagram users must be aged 13 at least. Users younger than 16 will automatically have safety restrictions applied to their account. This will mean that they have private profiles and will need parental consent to change these settings. Users aged 16 and 17 will also have these safety settings applied by default, but they can adjust them themselves.

Instagram has age verification, but it is only used if a user who has an account registered as under 18 attempts to change their age to 18 or older. When first creating an account, Instagram relies solely on self-reporting, meaning a child could enter an older age. If your child is setting up an Instagram account, ensure they enter the correct birthdate so that they receive the safety protections that come with a teen account.

Features

Add yours

An interactive feature for Stories that lets users reply to prompts with their own photos or videos. The creator can then pick their favourite responses and share them with their followers.

Carousel

A post with multiple images or videos.

Collab

Up to 3 users can co-author a post or reel together.

Comments

Users can comment on posts and reply to other users’ comments.

Direct messages (DMs)

Messages sent privately between Instagram users.

Explore

A personalised feed that helps users find new content by showing posts that are tailored to their interests.

Family Centre

A supervision tool that allows you to monitor your child’s activity and set parental controls on their account.

Feed

A channel where users can see new content from all the accounts they follow.

Follow

Following an account will let users stay up to date with any content the account posts.

Go Live

A live-streaming feature that allows users to share a video of themselves with their followers in real time. Users can co-host their live with others, and viewers can interact with the host in a comment section.

Meta AI

An AI chatbot that users can interact with. Users can ask it questions, ask it to compose messages and generate images.

Meta Verified

A paid subscription service that provides accounts with a blue checkmark, better customer support and other features like the ability to add links to Reels.

Reels

Short videos that users can create and edit within the Instagram app and share on their profile, stories and the explore page. There is a separate feed for reels.

Stories

Photos or videos that users can share with their followers or with everyone if their profile is set to public. They are deleted automatically after 24 hours, unless the user saves them to their highlights.

Verified accounts

Accounts for celebrities and public figures have a blue checkmark to confirm the account is authentic. Regular users can purchase a blue checkmark by subscribing to Meta Verified.

Terms

Finsta

Short for ‘fake Instagram’, this is an account which is separate to someone’s main account, that is usually less filtered and only shared with close friends.

Influencer

Accounts that can influence people due to their large following. They will often use their posts to advertise products, but they must label these posts as ads.

Rinsta

Short for a ‘real Instagram’, this is a user’s main account that they share with a wider audience and post more polished content.

What Instagram offers

Staying connected

Instagram is a good platform for staying connected to friends and family. Users can:

message each other
have audio and video calls
start group chats with multiple friends
stay up to date with each other’s lives through the posts and stories they upload

Discovering new things

There are various ways users can find new hobbies or interests through Instagram. A user might be interested in learning about a specific hobby so will search its hashtag to see content based around it. Alternatively, they can discover something they had never heard of before through the Explore page. This page shows content from accounts that the user does not follow. This can lead to young people finding a community or learning about a topic.

Creativity and self-expression

Users can use features like Reels and Stories to create their own content and turn their original ideas into content. They can then share this content with others to show people their creativity and personality. Creating content themselves can make using Instagram an active and inventive experience.

Managing risks

Inappropriate content

Users can come across inappropriate content on Instagram. This can include violent, sexual or harmful images or videos. Even if your child does not follow any accounts that share this type of content, they could still see it on their Explore or Reels feeds.

There are steps you can take to reduce the risk of your child coming across inappropriate content.

Adjust privacy settings

Using the privacy settings you can:

set up filters to hide inappropriate or offensive comments
choose specific words or phrases to hide to further reduce the risk of seeing inappropriate comments

Manage the algorithm

If your child sees content that is inappropriate for them but does not break Instagram’s community guidelines, advise them to select ‘Not interested’. This will push the algorithm to show less content like this in future.

Encourage critical thinking

Your child could be exposed to misinformation shared on Instagram. MetaAI could also give inaccurate responses to questions. Encourage them to fact-check any posts or AI responses using reputable sources outside of Instagram.

Set up Family Centre

Setting up Family Centre will allow you to review the topics your child is exploring on Instagram. If you see your child is searching for inappropriate topics, you can have a discussion with them about this content and why they shouldn’t search for it.

Contact with other users

Instagram is a social media platform, which means there are many ways other users can contact your child. Some of these users may have harmful intentions, including bullying, sharing hate, or attempting grooming.

There are things you can do to reduce the risk of users contacting your child.

Change privacy settings

Setting your child’s account to private and restricting DMs will prevent strangers from viewing your child’s content or messaging them. Only approved followers will be able to view your child’s posts and send them DMs.

Review follow requests

Encourage your child to review their followers and follow requests and only accept requests from people they know and trust in real life.

Explore block and report tools

Show your child how to use the block and report functions on Instagram. This will enable them to prevent further contact from anyone sending them harmful messages. Encouraging them to use reporting tools might protect others from harm.

Encourage conversation

Talk with your child about their digital life just as you would their offline life. Regular conversations make it more likely they’ll tell you if something online makes them uncomfortable.

Enable Family Centre

Using Family Centre, you can see who your child has messaged in the last 7 days.

Report to authorities

If you feel someone is attempting to groom your child, you should contact the authorities. Take screenshots of their messages to save as evidence.

Oversharing

Instagram is a social media platform designed for sharing photos and videos of your personal life with others. This can lead to oversharing, including personal and private information.

There are things you can do to ensure your child shares safely.

Set profile to private

Setting your child’s profile to private will mean only approved followers can view their posts. This reduces the chance of strangers seeing your child’s personal information.

Manage followers and profile

Review your child’s followers list and remove anyone they don’t know and trust in real life. Check that your child’s bio and profile picture do not reveal any personal information.

Talk to your child about safe sharing

Have a conversation about what kind of information is ok and not ok to share online, to ensure that your child’s future posts and messages do not give this information.

Excessive usage

It can be easy for young people to spend too much time on Instagram. Features like Reels and the Explore page are designed to keep users on the platform, as they can keep scrolling without running out of new content. Others might overuse the app due to a fear of missing out, feeling like they must be ready to reply to messages and comment on friends posts as quickly as possible.

You and your child can take steps to avoid excessive use of Instagram.

Set time limits in Family Centre

Using Family Centre, you can apply screen time limits to your child’s Instagram app. Reminders can be set to tell your child how much longer they have on the app. This will make losing access seem less sudden.

Turn off notifications

Young people will be less distracted from other tasks and less tempted to open Instagram without notifications.

Set boundaries

Agreeing on screen-free zones, such as the dinner table or their bedroom, will give your child clear times that they should not be on Instagram. You can also set times, such as homework time or bedtime, when your child cannot use the app.

Impact on self-esteem and self-image

Instagram can have a negative impact on young people’s self-esteem. Instagram users mostly post the highlights of their lives on the app, which can cause users to assume other people are having more fun than they are, harming their feeling of self-worth. There are also a lot of influencers and models on Instagram who will post highly edited and filtered images of themselves, which can further harm a young person’s self-image.

The following actions can help protect your child’s self-esteem while using Instagram.

Talk about online lives

Explaining to your child that many images they see on Instagram are altered will help them understand that Instagram does not reflect the real world. Ask them about the content they upload and help them realise that people do not post content that reflects their average day, but rather highlights from their life.

Promote positive accounts

Encourage your child to follow accounts based around creativity, hobbies and community rather than accounts based around outward appearance.

Set up Family centre

With child supervision tools set up, Instagram will send you alerts if it detects that your child has been regularly searching for content relating to suicide or self-harm.

Settings to protect your child

If your child is using Instagram, these settings can make using the platform a safer experience for them.

Set up Supervision

In Instagram’s Family Centre, you can set up Supervision. This will allow you to monitor and manage your child’s experience on Instagram. Setting time limits, monitoring messaging activity and scheduling downtimes are all features that can be accessed using Supervision.

To set up Supervision:

go to your profile by clicking your profile picture in the bottom corner
go to the Family Centre section and select Supervision for Teen Accounts
select Get Started
search for your child’s account and select Invite
ask your child to open their Instagram account and accept the invite

Enable screen time settings

Through the Family Centre, time limits can be applied to prevent your child from spending excessive amounts of time on Instagram. Additionally, you can apply a sleep mode to prevent notifications from interrupting your child’s sleep.

Set screen time limits

Go to Settings.
Go to Family Centre and select your child’s account.
Select Time Management.
Go to Daily limit and select the amount of time you would like to allow.
Select Save.

Enable sleep mode

Go to Settings
Go to Family Centre and select your child’s account.
Select Time Management.
Go to Sleep mode.
Use the toggle to enable sleep mode.

To remind your child not to use Instagram during sleep mode, choose ‘Remind teen to close Instagram’.

To block your child from using Instagram during sleep mode, choose ‘Block teen from Instagram’.

Review blocking and reporting tools

Explore the blocking and reporting features with your child. Knowing how to use these tools will allow them to prevent further contact from anyone who is making them uncomfortable on Instagram.

Block a user

Go to the profile of the user you wish to block.
Select the 3 dots in the top corner.
Select Block.
You will be asked if you want to block the account and any others they create or just that account.
Select Block.