Instagram’s new Teen Accounts are being promoted as safer for kids, but recent nationally representative data tells a more complicated story. This post invites families to take a research-based quiz together and have a calm, curiosity-driven conversation about what teens are actually experiencing on the platform — and what that means for trust, safety, and screen time.
While I was out on a walk listening to a podcast for my Screenagers work, I couldn’t help noticing the irony of Meta’s ads promoting its Teen Accounts. I’ve been closely following the current trial involving Meta and Instagram, particularly the questions about whether their products were intentionally designed to be addictive. It feels like a pivotal moment — and an important opportunity — for adults and kids to talk about this together.
Today’s blog is about grown-ups and kids setting aside any issues about Instagram use in the home and instead, becoming researchers together. I have created a quiz for all of you to do together, as a family.
In late 2024, Instagram launched “Instagram Teen Accounts” and rolled out a major PR campaign aimed at parents, promoting the platform’s new safety features and trying to reassure parents that their teens could use the platform without worry.
But what do teens themselves tell us about what it’s actually like to be on these new accounts? Are they truly significantly safer and better overall, or was it just a PR opportunity?
We have data! This past summer, a wonderful organization, the Heat Initiative, along with others, conducted an important nationally representative survey of 800 13 to 15-year-olds who had used Instagram in the past six months. At the time, Instagram’s Teen Accounts were already in effect, and these users were supposed to have heightened safety settings in place.
I’ve created a quiz below based on the researchers' findings. Print out this page, and don’t look at the end of the blog, because that’s where the answers are! The goal is for both adults and teens to read, guess, If you don’t print it, be careful not to scroll down to the answers until everyone has had a chance to respond.
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to Z can read this out loud at the table.)
Just so we all know, there is a very thoughtful man named Arturo Bejar who worked for many years at Meta, directing a project called the Bad Experiences and Encounters Framework.
In 2021, he conducted research examining the kinds of experiences teens were having on Instagram. His team found that in any given week, 13% of 13–15-year-olds were receiving unwanted sexual advances, and almost 20% had seen unwanted sexual or nude material. (By the way, Arturo tried to get Zuckerberg, head of Meta, to respond to these worrisome findings, but Zuckerberg ignored him. Arturo became a much respected whistleblower after that.)
I share this data so that you have a sense of some numbers before taking this quiz.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to M read this aloud at the table. Make sure everyone, including the reader, writes down their guesses for the answers.)
Okay, now family quiz time… everyone should have paper and a pen handy. Here are some questions regarding what the researchers found: (the answers are at the end of the post so that no one can see them til quiz is all done)
Q1: What percentage of respondents encountered unwanted messages or contact from another user in the past month?
Q2: What percentage of respondents encountered unwanted sexually suggestive content or memes?
Q3: What percentage reported that the sexually suggestive content made them feel uncomfortable?
Q4: What percentage of respondents encountered content or memes related to buying, selling, or using drugs or alcohol?
Q5: For those respondents who had reported getting content about buying, selling, or using drugs or alcohol, what percentage reported that this happens weekly, which gives an idea of how often they were getting such content?
Q6: What percentage of respondents found that Instagram’s “Suggested for You” or “People You May Know” pages recommended accounts of people they did not know but believed to be run by adults?
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to A read this aloud at the table.)
The goal is to have a calm conversation about what each of you thought the answers would be versus what they are. My hope is that you will be curious to delve more into the researcher's findings. It includes teens’ experiences in their own words and lists other types of worrisome situations they encounter beyond the ones mentioned in the quiz.
By the way, people who work with Arturo Bejar, the whistleblower mentioned earlier, have such high regard for all he is doing. It is definitely worth checking out the research he, Fairplay, and others conducted on problems with Teen Accounts.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
As we’re about to celebrate 10 years of Screenagers, we want to hear what’s been most helpful and what you’d like to see next.
Please click here to share your thoughts with us in our community survey. It only takes 5–10 minutes, and everyone who completes it will be entered to win one of five $50 Amazon vouchers.
While I was out on a walk listening to a podcast for my Screenagers work, I couldn’t help noticing the irony of Meta’s ads promoting its Teen Accounts. I’ve been closely following the current trial involving Meta and Instagram, particularly the questions about whether their products were intentionally designed to be addictive. It feels like a pivotal moment — and an important opportunity — for adults and kids to talk about this together.
Today’s blog is about grown-ups and kids setting aside any issues about Instagram use in the home and instead, becoming researchers together. I have created a quiz for all of you to do together, as a family.
In late 2024, Instagram launched “Instagram Teen Accounts” and rolled out a major PR campaign aimed at parents, promoting the platform’s new safety features and trying to reassure parents that their teens could use the platform without worry.
But what do teens themselves tell us about what it’s actually like to be on these new accounts? Are they truly significantly safer and better overall, or was it just a PR opportunity?
We have data! This past summer, a wonderful organization, the Heat Initiative, along with others, conducted an important nationally representative survey of 800 13 to 15-year-olds who had used Instagram in the past six months. At the time, Instagram’s Teen Accounts were already in effect, and these users were supposed to have heightened safety settings in place.
I’ve created a quiz below based on the researchers' findings. Print out this page, and don’t look at the end of the blog, because that’s where the answers are! The goal is for both adults and teens to read, guess, If you don’t print it, be careful not to scroll down to the answers until everyone has had a chance to respond.
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to Z can read this out loud at the table.)
Just so we all know, there is a very thoughtful man named Arturo Bejar who worked for many years at Meta, directing a project called the Bad Experiences and Encounters Framework.
In 2021, he conducted research examining the kinds of experiences teens were having on Instagram. His team found that in any given week, 13% of 13–15-year-olds were receiving unwanted sexual advances, and almost 20% had seen unwanted sexual or nude material. (By the way, Arturo tried to get Zuckerberg, head of Meta, to respond to these worrisome findings, but Zuckerberg ignored him. Arturo became a much respected whistleblower after that.)
I share this data so that you have a sense of some numbers before taking this quiz.
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to M read this aloud at the table. Make sure everyone, including the reader, writes down their guesses for the answers.)
Okay, now family quiz time… everyone should have paper and a pen handy. Here are some questions regarding what the researchers found: (the answers are at the end of the post so that no one can see them til quiz is all done)
Q1: What percentage of respondents encountered unwanted messages or contact from another user in the past month?
Q2: What percentage of respondents encountered unwanted sexually suggestive content or memes?
Q3: What percentage reported that the sexually suggestive content made them feel uncomfortable?
Q4: What percentage of respondents encountered content or memes related to buying, selling, or using drugs or alcohol?
Q5: For those respondents who had reported getting content about buying, selling, or using drugs or alcohol, what percentage reported that this happens weekly, which gives an idea of how often they were getting such content?
Q6: What percentage of respondents found that Instagram’s “Suggested for You” or “People You May Know” pages recommended accounts of people they did not know but believed to be run by adults?
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to A read this aloud at the table.)
The goal is to have a calm conversation about what each of you thought the answers would be versus what they are. My hope is that you will be curious to delve more into the researcher's findings. It includes teens’ experiences in their own words and lists other types of worrisome situations they encounter beyond the ones mentioned in the quiz.
By the way, people who work with Arturo Bejar, the whistleblower mentioned earlier, have such high regard for all he is doing. It is definitely worth checking out the research he, Fairplay, and others conducted on problems with Teen Accounts.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
Sign up here to receive the weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD.
We respect your privacy.
While I was out on a walk listening to a podcast for my Screenagers work, I couldn’t help noticing the irony of Meta’s ads promoting its Teen Accounts. I’ve been closely following the current trial involving Meta and Instagram, particularly the questions about whether their products were intentionally designed to be addictive. It feels like a pivotal moment — and an important opportunity — for adults and kids to talk about this together.
Today’s blog is about grown-ups and kids setting aside any issues about Instagram use in the home and instead, becoming researchers together. I have created a quiz for all of you to do together, as a family.
In late 2024, Instagram launched “Instagram Teen Accounts” and rolled out a major PR campaign aimed at parents, promoting the platform’s new safety features and trying to reassure parents that their teens could use the platform without worry.
But what do teens themselves tell us about what it’s actually like to be on these new accounts? Are they truly significantly safer and better overall, or was it just a PR opportunity?
We have data! This past summer, a wonderful organization, the Heat Initiative, along with others, conducted an important nationally representative survey of 800 13 to 15-year-olds who had used Instagram in the past six months. At the time, Instagram’s Teen Accounts were already in effect, and these users were supposed to have heightened safety settings in place.
I’ve created a quiz below based on the researchers' findings. Print out this page, and don’t look at the end of the blog, because that’s where the answers are! The goal is for both adults and teens to read, guess, If you don’t print it, be careful not to scroll down to the answers until everyone has had a chance to respond.
(Whoever's name starts with the letter closest to Z can read this out loud at the table.)
Just so we all know, there is a very thoughtful man named Arturo Bejar who worked for many years at Meta, directing a project called the Bad Experiences and Encounters Framework.
In 2021, he conducted research examining the kinds of experiences teens were having on Instagram. His team found that in any given week, 13% of 13–15-year-olds were receiving unwanted sexual advances, and almost 20% had seen unwanted sexual or nude material. (By the way, Arturo tried to get Zuckerberg, head of Meta, to respond to these worrisome findings, but Zuckerberg ignored him. Arturo became a much respected whistleblower after that.)
I share this data so that you have a sense of some numbers before taking this quiz.
It feels like we’re finally hitting a tipping point. The harms from social media in young people’s lives have been building for far too long, and bold solutions can’t wait any longer. That’s why what just happened in Australia is extremely exciting. Their new nationwide move marks one of the biggest attempts yet to protect kids online. And as we released a new podcast episode yesterday featuring a mother who lost her 14-year-old son after a tragic connection made through social media, I couldn’t help but think: this is exactly the kind of real-world action families have been desperate for. In today’s blog, I share five key things to understand about what Australia is doing because it’s big, it’s controversial, and it might just spark global change.
READ MORE >
I hear from so many parents who feel conflicted about their own phone habits when it comes to modeling healthy use for their kids. They’ll say, “I tell my kids to get off their screens, but then I’m on mine all the time.” Today I introduce two moms who are taking on my One Small Change Challenge and share how you can try it too.
READ MORE >
This week’s blog explores how influencers and social media promoting so-called “Healthy” ideals — from food rules to fitness fads — can quietly lead young people toward disordered eating. Featuring insights from Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, a leading expert on eating disorders, we unpack how to spot harmful messages and start honest conversations with kids about wellness, body image, and what “healthy” really means.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
