A pinboard for inspiration, with a messaging feature many parents don't know exists.
Pinterest doesn't chase your child's time the way the feeds do, and rarely needs a limit of its own. The phone's usual frames cover it.
The limits by age, and the moves that make them stick: Screen time for kids and teens, a complete guide.
The most important things to know
Pinterest looks like a digital pinboard, and mostly that's exactly what it is: ideas for the bedroom, the food, the drawing, the outfit. No feed nagging at you, no audience keeping score.
But the app has private messages. Which means the rule that covers every app covers this one too: if it has messages, it's social, however calm it looks. We learnt that the hard way at home.
What's positive about Pinterest for your child?
For kids who like collecting, planning and gathering inspiration, Pinterest is one of the loveliest, calmest apps there is. No comparison race, no streaks, just boards slowly filling with ideas.
How can Pinterest affect your child negatively?
The messaging feature is easy to miss, and it's the one that caught us out at home. Our daughter ended up in heavy conversations with a stranger there, in the app we'd assumed was the safest of the lot.
Searches around body, exercise and mental health can also lead to darker content than the first impression suggests, even if Pinterest filters some of it.
Settings you set together
- Messages: restrict who can send them, and look at the setting together.
- Ask what the boards are for. The answer is usually entirely undramatic and often rather sweet.
Sources
The whole mindset behind the guide, with the research and the open-door principle: Kids and social media, a parent's guide
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