Instagram to Implement Teen Account Settings

 Instagram is implementing a new setting to protect young users. The new setting called “teen account” will automatically make accounts for users under the age of 18 private. 

This new move by the social media giant will also restrict what kinds of content teen users can see on the app. 

Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary regarding this new protection setting. To schedule an interview with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations at [email protected]

Lorien Abroms is a professor of prevention and community health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. She has studied how social media and digital communication technology can be used for health promotion. She can also talk about the potential for negative impact on teens and young adults. She is the founding director of Behavioral Research Insights and DiGital Health Technology Institute.

Dr. Mary DeRaedt is an assistant professor of counseling and human development at GW’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development. DeRaedt is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Virginia and a Nationally Certified Counselor with a Doctorate in Counseling and Supervision. She provides psychotherapy for people of all ages at the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education. Her doctoral work was completed at the George Washington University where she focused on effective treatments for children and adolescents coping with trauma, anxiety, non-suicidal self-injury, depression, behavior disorders and disordered eating.

Elizabeth Choma, clinical assistant professor at the George Washington University School of Nursing, is a pediatric nurse practitioner whose work focuses on firearm safety education in families. She can discuss this report, statistics about having firearms in your home and the importance of keeping your guns secure.

Vikram R. Bhargava, assistant professor of strategic management & public policy, centers his research around the distinctive ethics and policy issues that technology gives rise to in organizational contexts. He’s interested in topics including technology addiction, mass social media outrage, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, hiring algorithms, the future of work, and other topics related to technology policy and ethics. Bhargava authored a research article in Business Ethics Quarterly, titled “Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction”, which dives into why scholars, policy makers, and the managers of social media companies should treat social media addiction as a serious moral problem. 

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