For kids to sleep instead of chatting, Facebook adds an option to Messenger Kids, its app for kids under 13. With it, parents can prevent the use of the service on pre-defined time slots.
This is a function whose absence was quite implausible given the software it was intended for. And yet: by launching at the end of 2017 Messenger Kids, an instant chat application for children under the age of 13, Facebook had not proposed from the start a "sleep mode", which allows make the program unusable on certain time slots.
This oversight is now repaired.
On Friday, April 27th, the social network has corrected the situation by raising the veil on an option that offers parents the possibility, from a dedicated control panel, to define the periods during which Messenger Kids does not work, for example the night during the week. from 9pm to 7am, to prevent children from continuing to send messages to their friends when it is high time to go to sleep.
The sleep mode can be activated anytime and for any time of the week: it is up to the adult to define the days, the start time and the end time. You do not want your child to be on Messenger Kids when he is supposed to do his homework? Block the relevant time slot. You want him to train rather than chatting? Restrict night use.
The functionality is basic and distinguishes two periods in the week: school days and weekends. In this way, you can be a little more flexible on Saturdays and Sundays. This type of setting is relatively common: in the world of video games for example, companies like Blizzard and Sony provide parameters to manage the game time, among others.
Messenger Kids is a very safe space for children; thus, each new conversation of their children must be validated by the parents before starting. However, the software is far from unanimous. A group of pediatricians, psychologists, academics, psychiatrists and doctors are worried about the effects such an application may have on the development of the child
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