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Instagram is taking further precaution for the youth’s online safety. To further ensure that teen users are protected and to ease worry on their parents’ end, the social media app has launched new tools and features including a “Take A Break” feature, according to an Instagram blog post. The latest feature aims to “ empower people to make informed decisions about how they’re spending their time,” Head of the tech giant, Adam Mosseri, wrote. “If someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time, we’ll ask them to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future,” he continued.
As Generation Z — the group born between 1997-2017 — comes of age, learning more about them is crucial for advertisers and platforms alike. Now, an annual study by Piper Jaffray examining the brand preferences of teens may be able to help. Piper Jaffray surveyed 8,000 teenagers from across the country and found they preferred companies advertised to them through Instagram and Snapchat. Seventy percent of respondents chose Instagram over other platforms for brand engagement. Inversely, 41 percent of teens chose Snapchat as their favorite social media platform, and Instagram as their second favorite at 35 percent. Facebook and Twitter clocked in at 6 percent each as teens’ favorite platforms. It seems Instagram is well aware of its potential. The app recently ramped up its consumer features allowing users to purchase products directly in the app. Last year, Instagram began offering direct links on posts, helping merchants push products through Instagram. Snapchat’s main user base is...
Candace Walker didn’t want her teenage children begging her for the latest gadgets and clothing brands. Instead, she wanted to encourage them to initiate and devise creative ways to earn those items. Walker developed Earnster , an app that turns everyday household chores, extra school work and community service into currency. Earnster is designed to empower teens to take control of their earning potential by identifying chores and other tasks they can complete in exchange for a special reward. “My teenage children are the inspiration behind Earnster,” said Walker. “They wanted to do it all and have it all. It got to the point where I wanted to say ‘Hey, here’s what I’ll do to earn those things.’” Walker’s busy schedule as a single mom coupled with children’s activities made it difficult to keep track of chores at home. She told AfroTech Earnster evolved from being her personal solution to getting her kids to take initiative and earn special items while getting chores done. Earnster...
Nagging parents and teachers aren’t the only ones concerned with our culture’s obsessions with smartphones and social media. A recent study by Pew Research Center shows that teens are consciously logging off and stepping back from using their phones nonstop. In fact, 52% of teens say they’re trying to limit their phone use. And 54% recognize that they spend too much time on their phones in general. With smartphones becoming more accessible and widely used than ever, 72% of teens say they have a habit of grabbing their phones when they first wake up. We’ve seen how checking our phones in the morning can lead to unhappiness, stress and feeling like you’re never fully caught up. So young people already thinking about ways to curb their smart phone use could be a good sign for their future mental health. It’s not only young people who are affected. More than half of teens polled believed that their parents are distracted by phones during their conversations and 72% of parents believe...