Meta gives Parents more control over Teens on Instagram and all Quest VR Headsets

Meta has rolled out “New Tools and Resources for Parents and Teens in VR and on Instagram.” To be specific, the company says all Quest headsets will now have parental supervision tools, and on Instagram, new supervision tools will roll out globally. “Parents can now send invites to their teens to initiate tools,” Meta notes, concerning its update on Instagram, with the intent to reduce harmful impacts on teenagers.

Expanding Instagram’s Parental Controls

In the past, only teens were able to send invitations. With the update, “parents and guardians can now send invitations to their teens to initiate supervision tools,” Meta says. Apart from that, they can also choose certain times of the day or week when they don’t want their teens to use Instagram.  

As a result they will have access to more information whenever their child reports an account or post, including who was reported and the kind of report made.

My guess is that a lot of tension will be created because kids aren’t all that eager to share their app usage data with their parents. On the other hand, this allows for a more collaborative and trust-based approach to app monitoring and management.

The company, however, notes that these changes are only accessible to users (in the United States) who already have “supervision” set up on Instagram. Though it plans to extend the features to Instagram users in other nations before the end of the year. If you’re a parent and would like to monitor your child’s Instagram activity then you should watch this short video to learn more.

To go along with the new parental settings, Instagram is introducing “nudges” that will prompt kids who find themselves on the Explore tab too often to try something new. The new nudge, according to Meta, is meant to inspire teenagers to find something new and “excludes topics that may be associated with appearance comparison.”

Quest’s Parental Supervision Resources and Tools

Quest headsets now allow parents and guardians to accept the purchase of an app that is restricted by default because of its IARC-rating. 13-year-olds and above can make a “Ask to Buy” request, which notifies their parents. The Oculus mobile app provides the parent with the option to either accept or decline the request.

Additionally, parents can now block specific apps, preventing their children from launching them. Web browsers and apps accessible through the Quest Store are examples of apps that can be restricted. Additional features include “Purchase Notifications” that alert parents when their teen makes a purchase, as well as the ability to examine all of their child’s apps.

Parents now have access to their teen’s list of Oculus friends and can find out how much time their teen is spending in VR. Teens must initiate the procedure for parents to link to their accounts. After that, both parent and teen can agree.

Meta is also releasing a new “Parent education site” that will feature a guide to the company’s parental monitoring tools as well as methods to assist parents in discussing virtual reality with their teenagers. The company stresses that this is just the starting point and that its parental monitoring controls will continue to grow and change over time.

Meta stated a few months ago that it will include some relatively basic parental control options in its VR headset, and now Quest has followed suit.

Parental controls features (both on Instagram and for VR) only work if parents and teenagers use them. Meta business is just civic enough to make these tools available to the community.