How to Use the New Hibernate Feature in Facebook Messenger Kids
If your kids are using Facebook’s special Messenger Kids app, there is now a new feature to help parents better control that usage: Snooze.
Launched this week, a new feature allows parents to set a “shutdown time” each day when the app “goes to sleep” and is not available to children. This means you don’t have to worry about them chatting up late with friends or being late for the bus because they were too busy talking with a friend in the morning.
To set your child’s sleep schedule, go to the Messenger Kids controls in the main Facebook app and tap on the name of the child you want to control.
From there, you will see the Hibernate option under Application Control. Click on this and then set limits for weekdays and weekends. You can tweak different settings for both if you like, or use the same controls for each day of the week.
And when you do set these things up, don’t forget to talk to your child about the Facebook limits you set and why. Application controls are nice, but installing them without talking can be seen as punishment rather than setting reasonable boundaries. It can also set you up for easier conversation in the future, when they are old enough for their own Facebook account, which you won’t be able to control as closely.