Social media applications are now part of everyone’s life, from children to adults. Today, children at 5 and 6 or even younger have smartphones and social media accounts. Thus, there is a danger to their life as they can have access to things that are not adequate for their age.
Parents need to monitor their kids, especially when they go online. They cannot be left to play a poker online za darmo game or watch +18 movies. Similarly, social media applications are not always suitable for them. The content of these social media applications can ruin their lives.
Facebook as the owner of Instagram, is thinking of developing a special application for kids. Instagram’s policy now prohibits kids under 13 from having an account, but the easiest thing is to lie about your age. Similar to youtube kids, the application will enable the children to contact their peers and families but under their parent’s supervision.
Benefits of Instagram Kids App for the Company
The new app seems like it will not have any profitable income for the company. It is supposed to be ad-free. So, how will the company benefit from such an app?
Allowing Children to Have Better Social Lives
No one can deny the bad effects of social media on one’s life. Adults themselves are negatively affected by these apps. So, what would be the case for children? Instagram is trying to minimize this effect by allowing children to only see suitable content. Moreover, their parents can monitor them.
Similar to the children’s messenger, the app should get the parent’s permission to operate. This way, parents will have to do the rest to prevent the negative effects of social media apps.
Better Ad Targeting
Although the kids’ Instagram should be ad-free, it can help the company to do better targeting. The app will still collect the data and information of the kids. It will know their interests and needs. Since the app is connected to their parents’ devices, Instagram can do better targeting for the parents. So, the benefit of the kids’ app here is providing information to serve the parents, not the kids.
However, there are still some negative points about these kinds of applications. In the end, kids will do the same as adults. They will view content and see what their peers are doing. Since they are still young, they won’t understand it is just social media. What they see is not the real thing in life. Peer pressure and copying others’ life will remain the same for the kids’ app. This may grow some insecurities for the kids. Besides, they will always compare themselves to their peers.
It is a reality now that kids will always reach these social media apps. Parents won’t be able to completely prevent them from going online and using social media. So, having a kids’ app under parents’ surveillance is much better than leaving kids to go online with no governing.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
