An Instagram Guide for Parents has been launched to ensure a safe online environment for young girls and boys in Bangladesh. This initiative has been taken up to help teenagers understand the features of Instagram, leading to a safe and positive online experience.
This guide, in both Bangla and English, was launched on Thursday by means of a webinar at the joint initiative of Instagram and the magazine for young teens, Kishor Alo.
Speaking at the seminar, Instagram's Asia Pacific regional head of public policy, Philip Chua, said dependence on social media has increased. In Bangladesh too it has become an integral part of teenagers' lives. Parents are concerned about the mental health and online safety of their children. Instagram continuously adds new features to ensure the safety of its users. Parents can use this Instagram parental guide to discuss online safety with their children.
Writer and Kishor Alo editor, Anisul Hoque, said Internet has become an integral part of lives, but this requires knowledge for its safe and correct use. He said this initiative by Instagram and Kishore Alo is great. This guide gives advice on how to use the various features of the Instagram app to create a community. He said, "As a father, I believe that we can work together to make the use of internet an enjoyable and safe experience for boys and girls."
Shabnaz Zaherin, child protection officer and UNICEF, said this parental guide of Instagram and Kishor Alo is a good initiative to keep the online world of children safe.
Referring to her own child's experience in using the internet, parent representative Aziza Ahmed said internet safety is a matter of concern for parents nowadays. She called for a brief and easy-to-understand parental guide.
Another parent representative, Iqbal Hossain, called for support so that children and youth could take their creative work and enterprises to a global level.
The webinar, moderated by Kishor Alo contributor Tabassum Islam, was streamed live on Kishor Alo's Facebook page.
The parental guide can be read on Kishor Alo's website (www.kishoralo.com).