Facebook recently announced that it was developing a child-friendly version of Instagram for kids under the age of 13. Instagram is one of the biggest social media sites on the planet, with more than 1 billion users. It has grown from a simple photo sharing service to a mammoth network of big companies, small businesses, and influencers of varying scales competing for coveted Instagram likes. Instagram’s regulations currently don’t allow children under the age of 13 to create an account, but there is little in the way of enforcement. A recent study showed that 40% of children between the ages of 9 and 12 use Instagram. The real number is likely to be much higher, as there’s nothing stopping children from simply lying about their age to get on social media sites.

News of Instagram Youth was met with widespread outrage. Everyone from child welfare organisations to members of Congress to, of course, parents demanded that Facebook abandon their plans for Instagram Youth and instead focus on tackling the dangers that children currently face on social media sites. But is a version of Instagram for kids really such a bad idea?

Many psychologists believe that children should be banned from social media sites until they are at least 13 years old. This is because the brain is still developing during this time and social media is often a negative influence on young people. At age 13, the frontal cortex has developed enough for children to make more informed decisions.

But there’s a flip side to this argument. The internet is now an integral part of our children’s lives. And it’s not just the kids who are at fault here. Parents also need to take some responsibility for this. A recent survey by Common Sense Media showed that almost half of parents admitted to lying to their kids about their online activity. One in ten parents admitted to checking social media when their kids were in the room.

The problem is that kids are curious. They know that their parents are on social media and they want to try it out themselves. But even though they want to, they can’t. They’re not old enough. So when they see their parents using their phones and tablets and computers they start to think that social media is off limits to them.

There is, of course, plenty of evidence that exposure to social media at a young age is harmful to kids’ development. It can create body image issues, can exacerbate feelings of anxiety and stress, and can even have long term impacts on self-esteem. There’s also the danger of children talking to strangers via social media apps. These are all problems that Facebook hopes to address with its new service. While Facebook has yet to announce any details on how Instagram Youth will work, the features of Messenger Kids provide a helpful preview of what we might see when Instagram Youth hits our screens.

Messenger Kids is a version of Facebook’s popular messaging service targeted at kids under 13. On Messenger Kids, parents sign up for an account on their child’s behalf (thanks to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, or COPPA, children under 13 cannot sign up for social media accounts) and manage them. Children on Messenger Kids don’t have profiles that are visible to other users on the app. Parents can control who can view their child’s profile. They can also remotely log their child out of the app and set time limits for how long kids can use the app. Kids also can’t delete any messages or share any links.

All these features go a long way to creating a safe environment for kids to use social media. But they rely heavily on the willingness and ability of parents to police who their kid is talking to and what their kid might be saying. And this is all assuming that the child is open to their parents controlling most of their online social life. Kids are kids after all, and their preteen years are when they are beginning to chafe under their parents’ control and are acquiring a taste for a little more freedom and independence. Messenger Kids is targeted to young children who don’t know much about social media. However, for kids who have already experienced the normal Instagram, would they voluntarily sign up for a service where there are limits on what they can do and who they can follow?

It’s easy to see why many think that Instagram Youth is a bad idea. Facebook does not have the best record when it comes to privacy or safety on its online platforms. What guarantee is there that any product they end up creating will help childrens’ safety and wellbeing? However, the fact of the matter is that kids are already using Instagram. They are already exposed to the dangers of the platform, and while Facebook has tried to make Instagram safer for everyone, clearly it is not effective enough.

Having an Instagram with parental controls could work if it is created and implemented carefully. While kids who are already on Instagram probably won’t go for it, it could be a useful platform for children with no experience of social media whatsoever. Instead of throwing them into the deep end when they turn 13, their parents could use Instagram Youth to teach them about how to use social media safely.

Instagram at its core is about showing your social circle how you’re living life, and seeing how your favourite celebrities are living their lives. These are two things that children are going to find ways to do, with or without their parents’ approval. For the previous generation it was through schoolyard gossip and sneaking teen magazines with pictures of their favourite celebrities into the house. Posting and following people on Instagram is just the modern version of that. Instagram Youth is a possible solution to this problem. Whether or not it ultimately succeeds, it’s worth a shot.