Like it or not, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger make up a signficant portion of peoples social media lives. There have been a few rudimentary attempts at giving parents some control, but they have been pretty basic.
Now with the introduction of Family Center, parents have far more control and visibility over kids activities. Not only is there visibility, but “nudges” can be activated to ensure that kids have reminders that there’s a world outside social media.
The oversight offered in Messenger includes:
- View how much time their teen spends on Messenger
- View and receive updates on their teen’s Messenger contacts list, as well as their teen’s privacy and safety settings
- Get notified if their teen reports someone (if the teen chooses to share that information)
- View who can message their teen (only their friends, friends of friends, or no one) and see if their teen changes this setting
- View who can see their teen’s Messenger stories and get notified if these settings change
There’s a bunch more features coming that are aimed at helping teens feel comfortable online. This is while also giving their parents some better visibility, and capability to support their teens online time. With one teenager in the house and anohter kid growing up way too fast; I’m pretty keen to see how this develops in the coming months.
