MADRID, 27 (Portaltik/EP)

Meta has announced new features that will soon be built into Instagram, Facebook and Messenger aimed at teens and families, to manage the time they spend in these apps and the usage they do.

The messaging app Messenger has incorporated a new parental control tool with which parents and guardians can see the time minors spend in the app, access contact lists and privacy and security settings.

Plus, they can see who minors are writing to and set boundaries so they can only do so with friends, friends of friends, or no one else. And check out who’s seen the stories teens are sharing.

These tools are available through Family Centers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, but the company’s intention is for the tools to reach more countries around the world in the coming months.

In addition, these tools will expand next year to include time management and interaction features in Messenger.

On the other hand, Meta is testing a new privacy feature in Instagram direct messages, with the aim of avoiding unwanted interactions and unrelated people.

In this sense, when someone who doesn’t follow a user on Instagram wants to send them a direct message, they must first send a request in order to connect. Only one of these requests can be sent at a time and will be limited to text, to avoid sending unwanted photos, videos or voice messages.

On Instagram and Facebook, teen users will find new notifications to help them manage the time they spend on both social networks, following the ‘Break’ and ‘Silent Mode’ features already implemented.

This way, after 20 minutes of Facebook use have passed, minors will see a notification prompting them to close the app and set a daily time limit. On Instagram, a prompt will suggest that you close the app if you’re browsing Reels at night.

Silent mode, which the tech company introduced in January on Instagram for users in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, will be available to all users of the social network globally in the coming weeks.

Silent mode is designed to help teens set healthy boundaries by preventing notifications while active, sending automatic direct messages as replies, and changing your status to let other users know you’re temporarily not there.

Additional parental control features are also coming to Instagram, such as the ability for parents to see how many mutual friends their teen has with accounts they follow and notifications received when a teen blocks someone.