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For Elizabeth Cardner, a mother of two girls in Houston, Texas, Meta’s new limits on how teenagers can use its platforms are a welcome sign that more people are aware of social media’s potential dangers.<\/b><\/p>\n
But, she tells the BBC, they probably won’t help much in the long-term.<\/p>\n
“It will save a few arguments at home, but it doesn’t go far enough,” she says.<\/p>\n
This week, Meta announced new restrictions on its platforms – which include Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp – as part of an $18bn (\u00a313.25bn) settlement with US states in a lawsuit on social media’s effects on children.<\/p>\n
The company said it would set a daily two-hour time limit, hide the number of likes that a post receives, remove autoplay on videos, mute push notifications during school hours, and ban extreme make-up filters.<\/p>\n
It also announced changes to its age-verification process and parental controls as well as agreeing to appoint an independent auditor to check the measures are implemented and maintained.<\/p>\n
Many parents across the US see the restrictions as helpful, but are still sceptical. Those who spoke to the BBC described feeling stuck – where they feel they can’t cut their children off from social media but also can’t protect them from the harms they believe it causes – and they are waiting to see how much of a difference these new rules will make.<\/p>\n
Cardner’s 14-year-old, Paige, believes the restrictions will lead to “more real-life scenarios” and less “fake content”, which she says dominates social media. She and her sister both approve of hiding the numbers of likes and restricting filters.<\/p>\n
But Paige sees those gains as short-lived, “since AI is evolving”.<\/p>\n
“People will find new ways to have fake filters, and correct certain parts of their videos or pictures,” she says. “So I think it’ll help until people use other resources to try and find new ways to do that.”<\/p>\n
Cardner says banning her daughters entirely from social media would only result in them being left out by their peers.<\/p>\n
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she says. “I don’t think there’s any winning on it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n