Social media has become a huge part of every teen’s life, providing a way to connect with friends, share interests, and stay updated on what’s happening in the world. While it can be a positive space for expression and communication, it also comes with significant risks like cyberbullying and predators—especially if privacy settings are not properly managed. As a parent, understanding these dangers and the importance of safeguarding your child’s social media presence is essential for protecting their wellbeing in the digital world.

The Dangers Lurking on Social Media

Social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and others offer teens a sense of community, but they also expose them to strangers who may not have the best intentions. Without proper privacy settings in place, your teen’s posts, photos, and even location could be accessible to anyone. Here are some of the most concerning threats:

1. Predators Targeting Your Teen

Online predators use social media as a tool to find and manipulate vulnerable teens. They may create fake profiles, posing as someone around your child’s age, to initiate a conversation. These predators often attempt to build trust over time, gaining personal information that can later be used to exploit or harm your teen. When accounts are set to public, predators can easily find your child’s profile, view their posts, and send them direct messages, making it easier for them to target and groom potential victims.

2. Cyberbullying

Teens can be especially vulnerable to cyberbullying when their social media accounts are public. Bullies may leave hurtful comments, spread rumors, or even create fake profiles to humiliate your child. A public account opens the door to harassment from peers or complete strangers, leading to emotional distress and potentially serious consequences for your teen’s mental health. When privacy settings are in place, only trusted friends can interact with your teen’s posts, significantly reducing the likelihood of bullying from unknown sources.

3. Unwanted Followers and Random Contacts

Without privacy settings, anyone can follow your teen’s account and keep track of their social media activity. This might not seem harmful at first, but having random followers means that strangers can see personal details such as photos, locations, and even daily routines. Oversharing—whether intentional or not—can lead to unwanted attention and create opportunities for stalking, identity theft, or other forms of exploitation.

How Privacy Settings Can Keep Your Teen Safe

Setting your teen’s social media accounts to private is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to protect them from these threats. Here’s how it can help:

• Control Who Follows and Messages Them: When accounts are private, only approved friends and followers can see your teen’s posts or send them messages. This ensures that their online interactions are limited to people they know and trust, keeping strangers and potential predators at bay.
• Limit Exposure to Harmful Content: Privacy settings reduce the risk of encountering inappropriate content, unsolicited messages, or cyberbullying from random users. Your teen’s social media space becomes a safer environment, free from unwanted harassment.

Prevent Oversharing of Personal Information: A private account ensures that only a trusted circle has access to your teen’s photos, updates, and posts, reducing the chances of personal information falling into the wrong hands. It’s especially important to remind your teen not to share sensitive details, like location, in their posts, even when their account is private.

Setting Up Strong Privacy on Social Media Accounts

To protect your teen, it’s important to review and adjust privacy settings on all their social media accounts. Here are step-by-step instructions for protecting your teen’s privacy on three of the most used social media apps.  

From your child’s Instagram account:

1. Go to Profile and then Settings (tap on menu or profile pic)
2. Tap on Privacy to update the settings.
3. Select Account Privacy and turn on “Private Account.”
4. Select Comments and set to “Friends” or “Followers.”
5. Select Messages and set to “Only People I Follow.”
6. Select Tags and set to “Manual Approval.”

From your child’s TikTok account:

• Turn on Private Account (Settings > Privacy > Private Account)
• Turn off “Suggest your account to others.”
• Turn off “Downloading videos” feature.
• Turn off, remove “Duet” and “Stitch” capabilities.
• Restrict buying, sending and receiving virtual gifts.

From your child’s Snapchat account:

1. On the Home Page, tap the Location Pin in the bottom left corner.
2. Tap the Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
3. Select “Ghost Mode” to completely hide your kid’s location.
4. Turn on “Hide my live location” to disable live location updates. (If this is turned off, your child’s location is updated in real time for everyone to see, even if the app is closed.)

Turn off “Quick Add” from your child’s Snapchat app:

1. Go to Profile > Settings (Gear Icon) > Privacy Control > See me in Quick Add.
2. Turn off “Show me in Quick Add”.

There are additional measures you can take to further safeguard your children on their devices that can also help prevent them from changing their settings back. Beyond these privacy settings, consider setting up parental controls on your child’s phone and social media accounts to monitor and limit their online activity. 

It’s equally important to create an open dialogue with your child about internet safety—setting rules, discussing online dangers, and teaching them how to recognize risky situations. Though these steps can be challenging and time-consuming, they are crucial for ensuring your child’s safety in the digital world. Each action you take helps build a more secure online environment, empowering your child to navigate the internet more responsibly.

You’re Not Alone! iDefend Can Help

Creating an online safety plan for your family, setting up effective parental controls, and combating cyberbullying can be more challenging and take more time than you’d like. iDefend makes it easier than ever for parents to cultivate healthy digital habits in the home and protect kids against all types of cyber risks, including cyberbullying and predators.

Our team of advisors work directly with you to create a personalized protection plan for your family’s unique needs. Expert guidance, practical tips, and monitoring solutions empower you to take control of your family’s online safety and healthy balance with technology. We’re the experts so you don’t have to be.

Learn more and get protected today with iDefend. Try iDefend risk free and save 30%.