Meta, the social media behemoth that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among others, hosted a ‘Talking Digital Suraksha (Security) for Teens’ roundtable here with parents and educators to discuss digital safety initiatives.
The parent-educator forum, held in collaboration with 1M1B, was organised to build parental awareness on Meta’s approach to online safety and share best practices to safeguard the well-being of teens engaged in the online world.
The session discussed ways of empowering parents to confidently manage their teens’ usage of smartphones and devices – including on Meta’s platforms, while also gathering insights from parents and educators on their feedback around teen usage of social media and other online trends. The roundtable was attended by a select group of educators and parents from 10-15 schools in the city to learn more about digital safety initiatives and discuss experiences of their teen’s social media journey.
The company also sensitised the attending parents and educators about the tools and features by Meta that can aid a safe social media experience.
Over the past three years, Meta says it has launched 50-plus safety tools and features to promote online safety. Recently rolled out features around teen safety include, ‘Night Nudges’, which encourages users to shut down the Instagram app when being used late at night, as well as ‘Quiet Mode’, which help give teen users more control over the time spent on Instagram and what they see. Further, with Instagram’s Parental Supervision feature, parents can view the accounts their child follows, the accounts that follow their children and be more involved in their online experiences. Meta’s ‘Family Center’ also provides parents and teens to find information on how to safely navigate the platforms.