To alter your privacy settings on Instagram, you need to follow a few steps.
KEEPING
YOUR CHILDREN SAFE ON INSTAGRAM
Keeping your children
safe on Instagram can come be very challenging. As a parent, you want to equip
your children with the skills for the Internet without limiting them out of
fear. It is however possible, with a little effort to discover the correct
balance.
Instagram is one of the
social media apps that requires some research into in order to keep your
children safe. There are over 400 million users who are active on a daily basis
and more than a fifth of all teenagers have pinned Instagram as “the most
important social media site”
What is
Instagram?
Instagram is a photo app
where people can upload photos or videos to our service and share them with
their followers or with a select group of friends. As with any social network
app that has the ability to share content – pictures, photographs or videos –
there are innate dangers for parents and some rules will have to be adhered to
in order to keep your kids safe.
Here are a few on them.
Stipulate precise Rules for Your Child
It is impossible to
control what is posted on Instagram, but a conversation with your children as
to what they are allowed to view, needs to be had. The rules need clear
explanations as to why they are present as the kids will be more likely to
comply with the rules if they have an understanding as to why they are
important.
The guidelines can be broken down into three areas.
- Content rules — Create rules as to what videos and images the kids can view. They should only view age appropriate content
- Time rules — Dictate specific times where they can view social media
- Context rules — Create specific places where it is acceptable to view your accounts
Instagram
Settings
Instagram does cater for
the settings to be configured in order to protect the safety and privacy of
children and these should be carefully considered.
Set Your Child’s Instagram Feed to
“Private”
You and Your child need
to change the default setting on Instagram to “Private”, which means that not
everyone can see the posts but only those that are approved as followers of the
child’s feed.
Changing the Instagram
account to private:
Gain access to your child’s Instagram profile by clicking the icon in the bottom right corner of the device that looks like a person
Click the settings icon on the top right corner of the device.
In the “Account” setting ensure “Private Account” is switched on.
Although this prevents
unapproved people from viewing your child’s feeds, they can still send content
directly to a user.
Below we will explore
how to monitor these incoming feeds.
Never Use “Location
Sharing”
It is definitely a bad
idea to allow anyone know the location of your child’s pictures or photo’s. If
the location sharing setting is on, everybody will know the location of the
child all the time.
You cannot switch off
the sharing of your location altogether, but teach you child never to stipulate
the location where the post was created.
You can retrospectively
remove locations from existing feeds on a case-by-case basis.
This is how it is done:
Click the three dots above your post.
- Click Edit.
- Click the location name.
- Click Remove Location.
Always Monitor
Your Child’s Usage
This may not be liked by
your child, but it is advisable to check the Instagram account on a regular
basis and talk about any issues that may have arisen and to verify some safety
checks.
Below are a few methods
to ensure your child’s safety.
Ensure Personal
Details Remain Private
All information on an
Instagrams account is accessible even if the account is Private. Whatever is on
their profile is available to all users.
The following can be
done to limit public information:
- Edit your kids profile
so that no information that you would not want in the public is removed. - Make sure there is an
understanding as to why such information is not accessible to all. - Assist in making an
alias that your child can utilise as they age. - Regularly look into your
child’s profile to ensure that no mistaken information is present
Block Unknown
or Harassing Followers
One of the problems with this platform is that unknown people can send messages directly to your child. There is no present way to stop this from happening, but you can block any users who send content not appropriate for your child.
This can be done as
follows:
- In your child’s list of Followers, click to the profile of the user you wish to block.
- Click the three dots in the top-right corner
of the profile. - Click Block.
This can be done to anonymously
block any user even if they are not on a list of followers. You can also
reverse the process to allow a user access if you have mistakenly blocked them
Remove Photo Tags
Although Photo Tags are
a great feture of Instagram, they can also present an opportunity for people to
connect with your child. On tagging you in a phot, it is uploaded to the
“Photos of You” section in your child’s profile. You will be notified that this
has happened.
By doing this a user can
get your child to look at a photo regardless if they are even present in it.
If this happens, you
have some choices.
You can hide the photo from appearing on your child’s profile:
- Open the photo you wish to hide.
- Click the three dots (settings icon) in the top-right corner of the photo.
- Click Post Options.
- Choose Hide from My Profile.
You can un-tag your child from being in the photo:
- Open the photo you wish to
hide. - Click the three dots (settings icon) in the top-right corner of the photo
- Click More Options.
- Click Remove Me from Post.
It is also possible to
set the profile to only allow manually uploaded photos and avoid the appearance
of automatically uploaded photos.
This can be done as such:
- Click your child’s profile picture, then Click the three dots in the top-right corner of
the profile. - Click Tagging Options.
- Click Add Manually.
Delete Photos
If you wish to remove
any photos that have already been posted, follow these steps:
- Click to your child’s profile.
- Continue to find the photo you want to remove.
- Click the three dots in the top-right corner.
- Choose Delete.
The photo will
permanently be removed from the feed..
Retract Access
by Third-Party Apps
Although some third
party Apps are not legitimate, Instagram makes allowances for third-party apps
to integrate with it. This could lead to a serious threat to your child’s
privacy, security and personal information.
You should regularly
assess the apps integrating with your child’s Instagram and retract access to
all that do seem legitimate.
This is how you can do this:
- Click to your child’s profile.
- Click the three dots in the top-right
corner. - Choose Linked Accounts.
- Scroll down the linked
accounts. - Click Unlink to retract access for any illegitimate app.
Report
Inappropriate Behavior
It is a good idea to
read both their terms of service as well as the Community Guidelines for using
Instagram. This will inform you as to what is and is not allowed.
Inappropriate Images, Videos, and Comments
If your child receives inappropriate photos or feeds, this is what you can do:
- On the post you want to report, Click
the settings icon (three dots) above
it. - Click “Report Inappropriate.”
It is also possible to report inappropriate comments that a user has posted on one of your child’s posts:
- Click Comment while the image is visible.
- Swipe to the left on the unpleasant or
offensive comment. - Specify the reason for reporting
the comment by selecting either Spam
or Scam or Abusive Content.
Harassment and Bullying
Instagram has afforded
the opportunity to report bullying or harassment in a number of ways.
As discussed in sections above, you can report any inappropriate post or comment, and then block the abusive user.
Conclusion
Although Instagram can
be an amusing app for Children to engage with it does have an age restriction
of 13 or older. There may well be
content that is not appropriate for younger users.
You as a parent will
have to remain vigilant as to what is on the child’s feed as well as what their
profile contains. It is vitally important to keep discussing the merits and dangers
involved in utilising social media, so that your child feels comfortable
discussing any issues that may arise.