As teens spend more time online, many parents are asking: How can I help protect my child without feeling like I’m spying?
As more teenagers turn to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, many are falling prey to suspicious characters in a digital world where it can be difficult to discern true intentions.
In today’s digital world, teens are using social media to connect with their friends, learn and explore their interests. But there are also shady characters waiting to take advantage.
Stalker threatens KZN teen
For a 13-year-old girl from Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), what began as an online friendship with a man on Instagram turned into a nightmare when he shared explicit content, threatened her, and tracked her down.
Officers from Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) were called to a residence after an Instagram follower, who had threatened the girl’s life, was discovered outside her home at approximately 3.17 pm on Monday afternoon.
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Safety tools
A child placed in such a vulnerable situation is precisely what parents want to avoid.
As teens spend more time online, many parents are asking: How can I help protect my child without feeling like I’m spying?
Fortunately, there are tools in place to give parents peace of mind, support safer interactions, and empower teens to make thoughtful decisions online.
Instagram has introduced a suite of safety tools designed specifically for families, providing parents with more peace of mind while empowering teens to make smarter, safer choices online.
Whether you’re new to the platform or want to stay informed, there are essential safety tools every parent should know about:
Teen Accounts
Teen Accounts were designed to support parents better and give them peace of mind that their teens have the right protections in place.
They have built-in protections that limit who can contact them and the content they see. By default, teen accounts are set to private and teens under 16 can only change this default setting with help from a parent or guardian.
Supervision tools (parental controls)
As part of Teen Accounts, Instagram offers supervision features that allow parents to stay involved in their teen’s experience on the app.
With this feature, parents can monitor the time their teen spends on Instagram, view who they follow and who follows them, receive updates when their teen reports accounts or content, and set daily time limits or scheduled breaks to help manage usage effectively.
Daily time limit
The daily time limit feature is also part of Teen Accounts. It allows parents and teens to set limits on app usage, encouraging healthier and more mindful engagement over time.
Block, restrict and report feature
Teen Accounts include tools that allow teens to block or restrict people they don’t want to interact with and report harmful content or behaviour.
Restricted users won’t be able to see when your teen is online or if they’ve read messages.
Sensitive content control
This safety feature, also available through Teen Accounts, allows users to filter out potentially upsetting or mature content in Explore and other areas.
Educational Family Centre
Instagram’s Family Centre is an educational hub that provides articles and guidance to help parents have meaningful conversations with their teens about their online experiences and how to make time spent online a positive experience.
The hub focuses on providing parents with practical tools from online safety experts, organisations and academics on everything from bullying to cybersecurity.
Parents
Parents have been urged to explore these features with their teens and use them as a starting point for open, ongoing conversations about their online life.
When parents and teens navigate these digital spaces together, everyone wins.
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