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.
But, she tells the BBC, they probably won’t help much in the long-term.
“It will save a few arguments at home, but it doesn’t go far enough,” she says.
This week, Meta announced new restrictions on its platforms – which include Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp – as part of an $18bn (£13.25bn) settlement with US states in a lawsuit on social media’s effects on children.
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.
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.
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.
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.
But Paige sees those gains as short-lived, “since AI is evolving”.
“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.”
Cardner says banning her daughters entirely from social media would only result in them being left out by their peers.
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she says. “I don’t think there’s any winning on it.”
