This week, our Upper Fifth (Year 11) pupils are taking part in Wellbeing Week, and they started with an eye-opening talk on social media safety from a guest speaker at Meta, the company behind Instagram.
What is Wellbeing Week?
Wellbeing Week gives our Upper Fifth pupils dedicated time to reflect on their wellbeing, develop strategies for managing stress and explore ways to keep a healthy balance between school, extra-curricular commitments, family life and personal interests.
With so much of young people’s lives now happening online, social media safety was the perfect place to begin.
New social media restrictions for young people
Our speaker talked pupils through the social media ban for under-16s coming into force in January, following a similar ban already in place in Australia. Young people may be the “beating heart” of Instagram, but our speaker explained why this restriction matters so much and the benefits it brings.
How Instagram Teen Accounts protect young people
Meta has introduced Teen Accounts on Instagram for teens aged 13–17, giving parents peace of mind and helping young people build healthy habits online. These accounts are private by default and come with built-in protections from the start. Any under-16 who wants a public account needs parental consent, and families can add screen time limits for extra support.
The results speak for themselves: 97% of teens aged 13–15 have kept the built-in restrictions since launch.
From 16, the focus shifts to building confident skills with phones and laptops, so that by 18 young people have a much stronger understanding of life online. Looking ahead, Meta wants to use AI to create a more tailored experience and encourage healthier posting, recognising that “FOMO” affects younger users and adults alike.
Meta’s approach to youth safety
Pupils learned that thousands of people at Meta work on youth safety, with billions invested in building and maintaining protections. Meta works closely with experts and listens to local communities and parents to shape this work.
Today, more than 50 safety tools across Meta’s services help keep teens safe. These give parents greater visibility and support a healthy relationship with social media.
Instagram also offers age-appropriate experiences inspired by film age ratings, alongside its Hidden Words feature, so the content each young person sees reflects their age.
Understanding the difference between AI and social media
As AI grows, we are seeing a fundamental shift in how people use technology, and our speaker stressed how important it is for young people to understand the difference between AI and social media.
Meta does not allow under-18s to use its Meta AI chatbot. While the tool works well for adults, Meta does not consider it reliable enough yet for the kinds of questions younger users might ask. Pupils also heard how the UK’s and Europe’s strong privacy laws shape the way information shared with AI is handled.
Building healthy habits together
A huge thank you to our guest speaker from Meta for such an informative start to Wellbeing Week. We hope the talk sparks conversations at home about social media safety and the healthy habits that help young people thrive, both online and off.
