Facebook is planning an Instagram for kids under the age of 13. The target group is on the “priority list for the first half of the year”, according to an internal document that reached tech journalists last week. Leaked presumably from an Instagram employee who realized what a terrible idea this is.
It is not without reason that many tech managers prohibit their children from social media. Instagram, which is designed for self-marketing, is already the soul killer for many adults, for children it is life-threatening. Studies show an association between social media use and depression, anxiety, and insomnia in children. The suicide rate among ten to 14-year-olds in the United States has tripled in ten years.
There is also the risk that children will be contacted by pedophiles. In December 2019, a 37-year-old US author posed as an 11-year-old girl on Instagram. Within the first two hours, she received 15 messages from strangers, half of them obscene. Of course, Instagram promises that the kids’ app will be safe. The Instagram mother Facebook had also promised that with the chat app Messenger Kids for six to twelve-year-olds. Due to a technical defect, children could still chat with strangers.
Incidentally, Pavni Diwanji, who once launched the YouTube Kids video portal on Google, is responsible for the Insta-Kids project – a video portal that filters out handicraft videos but suggests videos for children in which children’s book characters die in agony or drink bleach.
