{"id":17274,"date":"2026-09-23T13:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T13:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/23\/fsu-learning-technologies-expert-weighs-impact-of-new-meta-restrictions-on-teens\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T13:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T13:03:25","slug":"fsu-learning-technologies-expert-weighs-impact-of-new-meta-restrictions-on-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/23\/fsu-learning-technologies-expert-weighs-impact-of-new-meta-restrictions-on-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"FSU learning technologies expert weighs impact of new Meta restrictions on teens"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/news.fsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Talking_Point_Vanessa_Dennen_Cover.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a Florida State University Learning Technologies Professor.\"\/><figcaption>Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems &amp; Learning Technologies Vanessa Dennen takes a balanced viewpoint on Meta&#039;s latest changes to its social media platform aimed at curbing youth social media addiction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Key Points<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Sweeping new changes being implemented to Facebook and Instagram aimed at addressing teen social media addiction may not address the bigger picture, according to Florida State University professor Vanessa Dennen.<\/li>\n<li>Dennen cautions that changes to individual platforms as part of the Meta lawsuit may miss the broader reality of how young people interact with digital media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Florida State University learning technologies expert <a href=\"https:\/\/annescollege.fsu.edu\/faculty-staff\/dr-vanessa-dennen\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Vanessa Dennen<\/a> says sweeping new restrictions on how teens use Instagram and Facebook may change their online habits, but they won\u2019t necessarily address the larger challenge of helping young people develop healthier relationships with their phones and social media.  <\/p>\n<p>Dennen, the Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems &amp; Learning Technologies at FSU\u2019s 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.  <\/p>\n<p>Under the settlement, Meta will pay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/08\/26\/nx-s1-5944781\/meta-settlement-child-safety-lawsuit\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">$17 billion over 10 years<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n<p>But Dennen cautions that changes to individual platforms may miss the broader reality of how young people interact with digital media. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSocial 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,\u201d Dennen said.  <\/p>\n<p>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\u2019 behavior rather than change it.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill these interventions actually improve teens\u2019 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,\u201d Dennen said.  <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u201cWill these interventions actually improve teens\u2019 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Vanessa Dennen, Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems &amp; Learning Technologies<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>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.   <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s a workaround, the teens will find it,\u201d Dennen said. \u201cIt will keep some people off, but it will not keep other people off.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>Dennan said reducing excessive social media use ultimately requires young people to develop self-regulation, a skill that doesn\u2019t automatically come with age.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not like people turn 18 and magically understand how to self-regulate these tools or how to use them productively in their lives,\u201d Dennen said. \u201cRegulations alone don\u2019t solve the problem.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>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.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe 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,\u201d Dennen said. \u201cI actually think the best thing we can do is talk to our teens about what they\u2019re doing and talk about what we\u2019re doing as adults.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think that coming down hard on the companies alone is the answer. It\u2019s a super nuanced topic,\u201d Dennen said. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be a learning curve when you\u2019re new to a platform.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>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.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are people. People are going to communicate with each other,\u201d Dennen said. \u201cIt\u2019s just that now on social media, we\u2019ve got it archived and amplified. The technology didn\u2019t make us that way; we were already that way.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems &#038; Learning Technologies Vanessa Dennen takes a balanced viewpoint on Meta&#8217;s latest changes to its social media platform aimed at curbing youth social media addiction.\t\t Key PointsSweeping new changes being implemented to Facebook and Instagram aimed at addressing teen social media addiction may not address the bigger picture, according to Florida State University professor Vanessa Dennen.Dennen cautions that changes to individual platforms as part of the Meta lawsuit may miss the broader reality of how young people interact with digital media.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\u2019t necessarily address the larger challenge of helping young people develop healthier relationships with their phones and social media.<br \/>\n Dennen, the Tyner Distinguished Professor of Instructional Systems &#038; Learn..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,28,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-technology","category-tie-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlinnews24.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}