Posted by Mary Kay Hoal on April 1, 2013 · 1 Comment
There are many reasons you might want to delete your child’s Instagram account. For starters, Instagram’s Terms of Service requires that a member be at least 13 years of age to join, so if your child (12 and under) has an account, they’ve obviously lied about their age. But beyond that, your child could be dealing with other problems on Instagram, like cyberbullying, sexting, child predation, access to porn or other concerning content that you can’t even imagine. You can read more about what kids, teens, parents and teachers have experienced on Instagram by reading the comments section of this article. These are all very legitimate reasons to delete your child’s account until you feel they are mature enough to understand the consequences of their online actions and to follow your family’s technology rules.
Unless you have direct access to their account via the web version of Instagram or through services like Statigram (both of which require your child’s username and password), it’s nearly impossible to know what your child is posting, who they’re engaging with, and more importantly, who’s engaging with them. That’s why it is absolutely critical to keep an open dialogue with your child about these issues, so that, if and when it’s necessary, they’ll know exactly why you’re making the decision to delete their account and what needs to happen in order for them to get it back. They need to know that this is not about you being mean, overprotective, or controlling; it’s about being their parent and making a decision that’s best for them at this time in their life. Keep in mind, if you choose to delete their Instagram account, everything that belongs to that account will be permanently deleted and that username can no longer be used.
1. Log into your child’s Instagram account by going to www.instagram.com
2. Once logged in, click the username in the top right. From the options provided, click Edit Profile.
3. On the bottom right of the next page, you’ll see a link that says “I’d like to delete my account.”
4. On the next page, just provide a reason why you’re deleting the account (if you don’t want to get into it you can just choose “other reason”). Enter your child’s password one last time, then click the red “Permanently deactivate my account” button.
Preventative Measures
Deleting an account doesn’t guarantee your child won’t use Instagram again. They could easily re-download the app or skip the app entirely and just go with the web version of Instagram. Of course, no two children are alike when it comes to following the rules, so this just once again drives home the importance of talking to your child about the issues that caused you to delete their account in the first place.
Now, though you could block the website on your browser at home, there isn’t much you can do to prevent your child from creating an account on Instagram’s website, assuming they go out of their way to do so. And as far as parental controls go on Android phones, they don’t offer much, if anything at all. If your child uses an iPhone or iPod Touch, however, it’s very easy to set a restriction that prevents them from downloading the Instagram app. And let’s be honest, the true draw to Instagram is its mobile app.
On your child’s iDevice, tap the Settings icon.
On the Settings screen, tap General.
Then, tap Restrictions.
You’ll want to tap Enable Restrictions, which will require you to create a passcode. This step is key to preventing your child from re-downloading Instagram.
Scroll down a bit and tap Apps on this screen.
And this is where you want to be. Though Instagram only allows users 13 and older, Apple has categorized their app under 12+, so what you need to do here is tap 9+. Doing this not only prevents your child from downloading Instagram, it prevents Instagram from even showing up in the App Store.
You can learn more about iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and iTunes safety at Yoursphere for Parents.
I am SO glad my kids aren’t old enough for this. Even I’m not on Instagram (I’m everywhere else though!) I’m totally going to be one of those parents who makes my kids friend me so I can comment on all of their things.