Instagram has grown rapidly since its launch in 2010 and with it the number of young users. Everyone wants to be on Instagram and it is no wonder there are 1 billion IG users every month. 72% of teens in the country now use Instagram and with growing concerns about online privacy, parents have a big problem on their hands.

There are successful kid stars on IG who have inspired parents to go all out in search of glory for their young ones. While it’s all good to allow your kids to use IG tools such as Stories, Feed, Live, IGTV, safety should be a major priority.

Using Instagram without any precautions can expose your kid unnecessarily to the entire world. However, kids can have safe fun on IG if you take some simple measures. This guide explores some of these options parents have for keeping their kids safe on Instagram.

1. Lay Clear Ground Rules on IG use

As a parent, you have to take a proactive role in how your kid uses their Instagram account. It starts with communicating clear IG rules with your kid. You’ve to implore them on the need for safety due to the risks out there. Your IG rules should cover the content type, time rules, and context/ where your kids can use Instagram.

2. Making Your Child’s Instagram Feed Private

Instagram has developed various safety and privacy settings for their younger community. As a parent, you should explore these settings and activate them to keep your kid safe. The private setting limits exposure of your kid to strangers online. Only the account owners can allow people to view content in the private settings mode.

3. Set Instagram Map function off

It is fun for kids to use Instagram as it connects them quickly with their peers. They might also want to boost their popularity through Instagram auto likes engagement. However, one risky way kids seek such popularity is through posting content with location sharing enabled.

With location sharing activated, strangers can easily track a child’s location. For this reason, make sure your kid doesn’t add a location when sharing content. In case they shared photos with location, remove geotagged locations.

You should also prevent future location sharing by going to the phone’s privacy settings, choose the location services, Instagram and them under Allow Location Access section, choose “Never.”

4. Keep Personal Details Private

While your kid might want to take full control of their Instagram account, it is safer for you to monitor the account initially. Any information that you feel uncomfortable sharing should not be included on their profile.

You should also impress upon your child to appreciate the reason for not posting personally-identifiable information. Using a pseudonym for your kid is also a great idea to avoid unnecessary exposure.

5. Remove and Block Suspicious Followers

When the account is young, it is easy to monitor all followers. Remove any unknown followers from your kid’s IG account and block any harassing fans. It is easy to remove such followers and when doing it, make sure your kid understands the reason for doing this.

Wrapping Up

These are only a few of the basic tips for keeping your child safe on Instagram. The most important thing is to let your kid understand the risk of unnecessary exposure while on social media. Having discussed such dangers, they will appreciate the precautionary steps you shall take to make Instagram safer for them.