Borderland doctor weighs in on new Instagram Teen Accounts

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- Instagram recently unveiled a new protected experience for teenagers.

Instagram allows users to connect with friends, family and other users to follow you and see what you are up to.

Instagram Teen Accounts aims to protect young people and give parents more access and control.

According to the social media platform, teenagers ages 13-17 will automatically be enrolled, and their accounts will become private.

Additionally, others can't message teens unless they are connected.

Teens will also see less sensitive content from accounts they aren't following.

Parents will also be able to monitor their children's activity.

"Instagram Teen Accounts are designed to provide parents with peace of mind that their teens are automatically placed into safe, built-in protections," the company wrote on its website.

Dr. Abraham Lopez, a clinical nurse psychologist at El Paso Children’s Hospital, told ABC-7 this is a step in the right direction.

“When we see it from a brain perspective. Their frontal lobe is not fully developed. The frontal lobe is the one that helps us with putting the brakes, not overdoing it. And so forth. So that can have some, negative implications with social media," he said.

Dr. Lopez said the frontal lobe is not developed until the age of 25. He said it helps us maintain structure and make the right decisions. He said during the teen stage, the brain is dictated by emotions.

“When it’s too early in adolescence or in pre-adolescence, social media can actually be, a negative component into their development because, a lot of what they're doing is a lot of emotional reasoning as opposed to more logical reasoning," the expert said.

He explained that while social media has its benefits, it can also become addicting, especially for the youngest.

Dr. Lopez said social media can amplify mental health issues many teens are facing.

“Now we have some mental health issues already. Let's say, low self-esteem or having some anxiety or depressed moods. And what will happen is that, the, the social media will be reinforced.”

Dr. Lopez reminds parents to supervise their children on social media and step in if needed.

“Be very involved. And that's there should be a non-negotiating issue between the parents and the kids where the parents are the leaders of the home and they should dictate some fundamental rules of how social media will be used.”