Shillong, Sept 25: Meta on Wednesday organised the ‘Talking Digital Suraksha for Teens’ roundtable here, in partnership with 1M1B. The parent-educator forum was held to build parental awareness on Meta’s approach to online safety and share best practices to safeguard the well-being of teens engaged in the online world.
The session discussed ways of empowering parents to confidently manage their teens’ usage of smartphones and devices – including on Meta’s platforms, while also gathering insights from parents and educators on their feedback around teen usage of social media and other online trends. The roundtable was attended by a select group of educators and parents from 10-15 selected schools in the city to learn more about digital safety initiatives and discuss experiences of their teen’s social media journey. Meta also sensitised the attending parents and educators about the tools and features by Meta that can aid a safe social media experience.
Speaking on the occasion, Natasha Jog, Director, Public Policy in India, Instagram, said, “We are dedicated to providing a safe experience for our users and preventing online harm through our apps. The Digital Suraksha Roundtable aims to raise awareness among parents and educators about the importance of online safety and familiarise them with the tools available on our platforms to help achieve this. It also serves as a valuable opportunity to gather community feedback, which we continuously use to enhance our safety efforts. We believe that parents and educators play a crucial role in guiding teens through their social media journey. Through impactful conversations across India, we are helping them understand how teens can engage meaningfully online while staying safe.”
As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the user safety ecosystem, Meta held the ‘Digital Suraksha Summit’ last year, which was built on a continuous endeavor to provide for a safe and balanced online experience for youth and women. Meta has also announced a two-year partnership with the Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology (ITBT), Government of Karnataka to empower students across schools and colleges, and educators on information, awareness and education on online safety and digital citizenship.
Over the past three years, Meta has launched 50+ safety tools and features to promote online safety. Recently rolled out features around teen safety include, ‘Night Nudges’, which encourages users to shut down the Instagram app when being used late at night, as well as ‘Quiet Mode’, which help give teen users more control over the time spent on Instagram and what they see. Further, with Instagram’s Parental Supervision feature, parents can view the accounts their child follows, the accounts that follow their children and be more involved in their online experiences. Meta’s ‘Family Center’ also provides parents and teens to find information on how to safely navigate the platforms.
Photo credit: Unsplash
