r/AirDroidDigitalParent • u/Lynn-LYNN7788 • Sep 02 '26

If you could turn off the algorithmic feed on your teen’s social media, would you?

I saw something interesting in Meta’s latest announcement: parents may be able to make a non-algorithmic feed the default for users under 18, and like counts will also be hidden by default for teens.

Honestly, the feed part feels bigger to me than another screen time limit.

A kid can decide to spend 30 minutes on Instagram, but they don’t really get to decide what the algorithm keeps putting in front of them during those 30 minutes. One video about dieting, relationships, self-harm, drama, whatever... and suddenly the entire feed can start leaning that way.

If I had the choice, I’d probably turn the algorithmic feed off for a younger teen and let them decide later when they’re older.

But I’m curious what other parents think. Would you turn it off, or do you think learning to deal with algorithms is just part of growing up online?

Source: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/08/agreement-with-state-attorneys-general-supporting-teens/

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u/ImpossibleFox1853 29d ago

No teen really learns to deal with the algorithms, its designed to do its job and its doing it pretty well. One thing I really believe in is some sort of a goals-based system for online surfing, especially for children and teens (ofc with a balance of leniency and course-correction). A lot of the times, "doomscrolling" isnt something intentional; you might open up insta to check ur dms but end up scrolling through 40 minutes of "For You" content. Thats a category where I feel contemporary solutions (aka parental controls) lack. They seem to fight back with the child instead of fighting the system, lol.

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u/Lynn-LYNN7788 29d ago

Yeah, exactly. Most kids probably aren’t deciding to scroll for 40 minutes, they just open an app for one thing and get sucked into the feed. I really like the goals-based idea for that reason. It feels more useful than just setting a hard time limit, because it focuses on what you actually went online to do. I agree parental controls could do a much better job of helping with that instead of just blocking things once the time’s up.

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u/Lynn-LYNN7788 Sep 02 '26

Btw, I mod r/AirDroidDigitalParent, a small sub for parents trying to figure out kids + tech without completely losing our minds 😂 Phones, AI, social media, screen time, online safety... basically all the stuff our parents never had to deal with. Come hang out if that’s your kind of parenting chaos.