Elizabeth Cardner, a mother of two girls in Houston, Texas, expressed that Meta's new limits on how teenagers can use its platforms are a positive step towards acknowledging social media's potential dangers. However, she believes these measures may not provide long-term solutions. "It will save a few arguments at home, but it doesn't go far enough," she stated.
This week, Meta announced new restrictions on its platforms, which include Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, as part of an $18 billion settlement with US states regarding social media's impact on children. The company will implement a daily two-hour time limit, hide the number of likes on posts, remove autoplay on videos, mute push notifications during school hours, and ban extreme make-up filters. Additionally, changes to its age-verification process and parental controls were announced, along with the appointment of an independent auditor to ensure compliance with these measures.
Many parents across the US view these restrictions as beneficial but remain skeptical. They report feeling trapped between wanting to protect their children from social media's harms and the reality that they cannot completely shield them from it. Cardner's 14-year-old daughter, Paige, believes the restrictions could promote "more real-life scenarios" and reduce "fake content" on social media. However, she also thinks that these benefits may be temporary due to the evolving nature of technology. "People will find new ways to have fake filters," she noted.
Andria Rose, another mother of two teens from Boston, described feeling helpless in the face of social media's influence, stating, "no matter how much I protect my kids, Facebook, Instagram - they're coming in and literally, like, taking them out of their rooms." While she called Meta's changes "fantastic," she feels they do not fully address the underlying issues. Rose compared the settlement to "throwing a couple dollar bills at a problem," given the significant profits Meta has made from children during the pandemic.
Joanie Story, a mother of four boys in Long Island, criticized the stipulation that Meta will withhold $5 billion of the settlement until other platforms like YouTube and TikTok also agree to similar restrictions. She considers this approach "petty," stating, "That's like saying: 'You know, we have the ability to fix what is broken, but we're only gonna fix it halfway.'" Despite her concerns, Story acknowledged the new rules as "good controls," sharing that her sons had previously encountered explicit content on a non-Meta platform, which led to one of them requiring therapy.
Mark SooHoo, a father of three from Chicago, emphasized the need for parents to delay giving smartphones to their children. He is part of an organization called Wait Until 8th, which encourages parents to refrain from providing smartphones until their children finish middle school. SooHoo believes that parents should work together to address the negative impacts of social media, stating, "A communal problem requires a communal solution."
The settlement was announced on Wednesday amid a trial where Meta's owner, Mark Zuckerberg, was expected to testify. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2023 by 29 US states, alleging that Meta designed its platforms to be addictive and violated federal laws regarding children's personal information. The settlement involves 48 states, the District of Columbia, and three US territories. Several studies have indicated that social media can negatively affect mental health, particularly among children, with a BBC investigation revealing that children were exposed to harmful content on social media platforms.