‘Instagram Kids’ is a Terrible Idea
Facebook recently “put a pause” on the rollout of ‘Instagram Kids’ — a version of Instagram catered towards children under the age of 13, after volumes of backlash it received online and in real life. This was immediately after Facebook released an internal data evaluation, in which the conclusion was that Instagram actually had a negative effect on the mental health of its teenage users, specifically on that of young teenage girls.
Instagram Kids was supposed to be a platform meant specifically for children, with no advertisements, and a high level of scrutiny by the parents themselves. This new iteration of Instagram was marketed as one which would alleviate all the shortcomings of the ‘normal’ Instagram — no more toxicity, no more vulnerable children, and better mental health for users across the board. However, anyone with a working understanding of Instagram and its potential for engagement, knows that something like this spells nothing short of disaster.
Instagram had made a clear and bold commitment to protect the interests and mental health of their target demographic. However, all of its promotional material, and damage control after the recent backlash indicate that their true priorities lie elsewhere.
For one, it is no secret that the pre-teen, and early teen (10 years — 15 years) age bracket is one that is highly sought after by brands and creators throughout the world. Young, impressionable kids are essentially the ultimate resource for engagement, and are instrumental in carrying entire social media trends by themselves alone. The success of TikTok, and its adoption by most mainstream brands and advertisers should be testament to the fact that this relevant age bracket is one which is ripe to be exploited harder than any other demographic. Children in that specific age bracket dictate the value of their favorite brands, video games, movies and food products — so much so, that a ‘kids’ subcategory is present today on most online entertainment platforms.
Children in this age bracket form a highly lucrative and sensitive demographic. Hence, it should be obvious what a platform like ‘Instagram Kids’ would probably end up being used for. It carries the potential of devolving into nothing but a repository of information and data, which can be used by Instagram to leverage this consistent engagement for profits. Once an entire generation of children are locked into a sanitized, parent-controlled, self-contained social ecosystem, they may still be extremely vulnerable to exploitation.
Young children are inherently more obsessive over their favorite creators and brands, and fall into addiction cycles more easily. They are historically more loyal (and rabid) than older users, owing to their general inability to understand what may be right or wrong. Whereas separate online spaces for children seem to be the best way to go about feeding them content, this form of segregation may be a double-edged sword. We often forget that children are mean to other children too, and that this problem would not at all be alleviated with a segregated online ecosystem. In fact, the issues plaguing young children may even be exacerbated, now that there can be no explicit adult intervention within these online spaces itself.
Regardless of any standard of parental scrutiny, a self-contained ecosystem consisting of all children is inherently prone to predators and malicious brands. It is likely that brands will look to leverage children’s underdeveloped opinion for profit motives. Since such social media platforms are inherently extremely addictive, enabling ‘Instagram Kids’ as a seemingly innocuous version of Instagram is dishonest at best, and exploitative at its worst.
Several lawmakers and Attorney General have essentially condemned ‘Instagram Kids’, and have implored Facebook to discontinue the project immediately. This makes it evident that this children-focused, seemingly exploitative social media model is extremely unpopular amongst users, and definitely unpopular amongst parents. Despite clear condemnations, Instagram seems adamant that this project is only ‘put on pause’, and has not said or shown any nativity to indicate that this project has been scrapped. Expect a low-key release, with minimal marketing in the near future.
Although Instagram has disputed how different media outlets are interpreting the data published by them, the core aspects and circumstances of the new platform are extremely clear. A single corporate entity holds complete control over the messaging conveyed to an entire generation of children, and this should alarm parents all over the world.
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