FSU learning technologies expert weighs impact of new Meta restrictions on teens

Florida State University learning technologies expert Vanessa Dennen says sweeping new restrictions on how teens use Instagram and Facebook may change their online habits, but they won’t necessarily address the larger challenge of helping young people develop healthier relationships with their phones and social media.  

Dennen, the Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies at FSU’s Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, studies how people learn and interact in digital environments. Her perspective comes as Meta prepares to implement new restrictions on young users following a landmark multistate settlement over allegations that its platforms were intentionally designed to foster addictive behavior among children and teens.  

Under the settlement, Meta will pay $17 billion over 10 years and implement new safety measures on Instagram and Facebook. Those changes include daily time limits, nighttime restrictions, stronger age-verification measures and additional parental controls. 

But Dennen cautions that changes to individual platforms may miss the broader reality of how young people interact with digital media. 

“Social media platforms play a pretty important role in teen life, but I would actually dial it back a bit from talking about social media and talk about their phones and the importance that their phones hold in their lives as the primary communication device,” Dennen said.  

Dennen said social media apps are modern channels for timeless communication between teenagers. As a result, restrictions on individual platforms such Instagram may shift teens’ behavior rather than change it.  

“Will these interventions actually improve teens’ social media experiences, or are they just going to reduce or control their use of Meta products specifically? Because Meta is not the only game in town,” Dennen said.  

“Will these interventions actually improve teens’ social media experiences, or are they just going to reduce or control their use of Meta products specifically? Because Meta is not the only game in town.”

– Vanessa Dennen, Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies

Instead of logging off completely, teens restricted on Instagram or Facebook are more likely to shift their attention to other platforms, such as TikTok or YouTube. Dennen feels strict restrictions often lead to workarounds rather than behavior changes.   

“If there’s a workaround, the teens will find it,” Dennen said. “It will keep some people off, but it will not keep other people off.”  

Dennan said reducing excessive social media use ultimately requires young people to develop self-regulation, a skill that doesn’t automatically come with age.  

“It’s not like people turn 18 and magically understand how to self-regulate these tools or how to use them productively in their lives,” Dennen said. “Regulations alone don’t solve the problem.” 

For Dennen, platform restrictions are only part of the answer. She said digital literacy and open communication at home can help young people learn to manage their technology use. Adults should also avoid making assumptions about screen time, she said, because teens may be using their devices for productive pastimes such as reading or creative projects.  

“We make these assumptions about what teens are doing on their phones because we see them on their phones, and we make judgments that they must be doing things that are a waste of time,” Dennen said. “I actually think the best thing we can do is talk to our teens about what they’re doing and talk about what we’re doing as adults.” 

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Parents can also model the habits they want their children to develop, Dennen said. One approach she recommends is creating a central place where family members charge their phones overnight rather than keeping the devices in their bedrooms. 

“I don’t think that coming down hard on the companies alone is the answer. It’s a super nuanced topic,” Dennen said. “There’s always going to be a learning curve when you’re new to a platform.”  

For Dennen, technology may change, but the underlying desire for communication does not. Social media, she said, gives those interactions a reach and performance that earlier forms of communication did not have.  

“People are people. People are going to communicate with each other,” Dennen said. “It’s just that now on social media, we’ve got it archived and amplified. The technology didn’t make us that way; we were already that way.”