Meta yesterday unveiled new features to help families and teenagers and make it even simpler to control how much time they spend using its applications, such as Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.
The company announced that it is introducing parental control to Messenger so that parents can monitor how their children spend their time online and who they communicate with.
The social network, according to an IANS report, continued, “We’re also rolling out Quiet Mode globally, encouraging teens to set time limits on Facebook, and giving parents even more ways to monitor their teens on Instagram. We’re also introducing new tools to limit unwanted interactions in Instagram DM and Messenger.”
In the upcoming months, there are plans to make Parental Supervision on Messenger available in more nations than just the US, UK and Canada.
“These tools allow parents to see how their teen uses Messenger, from how much time they’re spending on messaging to providing information about their teen’s message settings. These tools do not allow parents to read their teen’s messages,” said Meta.
Parental Supervision on Messenger will get more features over the upcoming year, allowing parents to assist their adolescent children in better time and relationship management.
In Instagram DMs, before being able to message someone who doesn’t follow them, people must now send an invite to get their permission to connect.
People can only send one invite at a time and can’t send more until the recipient accepts the invitation to connect.
“We’ll limit these message request invites to text only, so people can’t send any photos, videos, or voice messages, or make calls until the recipient has accepted the invite to chat,” said Meta.
Now, teens will also see a notification when they’ve spent 20 minutes on Facebook, prompting them to take time away from the app and set daily time limits. “We’re also exploring a new nudge on Instagram that suggests teens close the app if they are scrolling Reels at night,” Meta added.
In January, the company introduced Quiet Mode on Instagram, a new feature to help people focus and to encourage them to set boundaries with their friends and followers. “We’re making Quiet Mode available to everyone on Instagram globally in the coming weeks,” said the company.