Meta, the parent company of FacebookInstagram and WhatsApp has recently settled a landmark child safety lawsuit. The agreement introduces significant changes to how teenagers interact with these platforms. Among the new measures are limits on daily usage, muted notifications during school hours, and enhanced age verification processes. But what do the teenagers themselves think about these changes?
NPR’s Ava Berger spoke with several teenagers to gauge their reactions. The responses reveal a mix of skepticism, adaptability, and even some appreciation for the new rules. Here’s what they had to say.
Teenagers’ Creative Workarounds
Teenagers have always been known for their tech-savvy nature, and the new restrictions are no exception. Selena Clougiart, a 15-year-old sophomore from Northern California, shared that lying about age is a common practice among her peers. “A lot of people, like, frequently lie about their ages on social media,” she said. “It’s quite a common practice to bypass those certain things.”
Meta claims to be investing in stronger technology to ensure compliance with age and use restrictions. However, teenagers like 13-year-old Sonali Sadaya from Washington State are not convinced. Sonali pointed out that in Australia, where social media is banned for users under 16, most kids still find ways to access these platforms. “Most kids didn’t even get their accounts banned,” she noted. “So they’re still able to access it, and it didn’t really do anything.”
Sonali also shared a clever tactic used by her friends to bypass screen time limits. By changing their device’s time zone, they can effectively reset their daily usage allowance. “My friend has, like, 2 hours screen time. She goes into her time, like, the time zone. She changes her time zone, so it goes – like, changes the time, so then she gets two more hours on her screen time,” she explained.
Mixed Reactions to the Changes
Not all teenagers are against the new restrictions. Sonia Faruki, a 17-year-old from Long Island, New York, believes that these changes could have been beneficial earlier in her social media journey. “I think that if I had these limitations earlier for myself, that it would be helpful for me as a person and to focus on other things, like hanging out with friends and spending more time outside rather than staying in my room all day,” she said.
However, the general consensus among teenagers is that they will find ways to circumvent any restrictions. Sonali Sadaya reiterated this point, stating, “We’re the people that are on – like, know how to use technology the most. So it’s – there are really, really simple ways to get around this kind of stuff.”
The new restrictions also highlight the global nature of the debate over social media use among young people. In Australia, for instance, the government has implemented strict bans on social media for users under 16. However, enforcement has been challenging, with studies showing that 80% of minors still manage to access these platforms.
As the debate continues, one thing is clear: teenagers will always find a way to adapt to new rules, whether they agree with them or not. The question remains whether these restrictions will have the intended effect of protecting young users or simply drive them to find new ways to access the platforms they love.
