Uber Eats for Teens is making waves now online. According to an earlier report on this website, this new subsidiary feature of the world’s largest food delivery platform allows teenagers to order the food they like from their parents’ accounts.
That has always been the mantra of online food ordering, right? Ordering what you crave, ordering what you love. So, kids and teens can ditch their moms’ and dads’ choices to order healthier, vegetables-laden meals for those that satisfy their cravings.
This is why researchers are saying that instead of helping teenagers eat what they love, they are only bringing them food that will lead to health risks. Here’s the scoop.
Uber Eats for teens, or uber unhealthy eats?
Just in time for the holidays, Uber Eats rolled out this new feature in Australia so kids and teens can order from their parents’ accounts. However, experts say this move will make it more difficult to support healthier eating in young people. Mind you, teens don’t have consciousness about going vegan yet.
While the feature will provide younger generations more autonomy over online food ordering and relieve busy parents, this is bringing forth more problems.
“… This isn’t just about convenience – it’s part of a bigger pattern where powerful companies are influencing what we eat, often prioritizing profit over health, especially in the case of young people,” said the researchers of the study published in MDPI - Publisher of Open Access Journals.
According to statistics, almost half of teenage Australians use meal delivery services, highlighting how these may become embedded in young people’s lives.
However, considering their lifestyle, takeaway, and discretionary foods also make up 40 percent of their daily energy intake – fast-food meals, junk foods, unhealthy foods cloaked as healthy, and more. These foods are widely demanded online.
The research has shown delivery platforms are saturated with these irresistible yet unhealthy food options that are also easier and faster choices. These kids won’t mind eating McDonald’s “World Famous Fries” at least three times a week!
“The demand for convenience and the increasing role of digital technology in everyday life has fueled the use of online food delivery services (OFDs), of which young people are the largest users globally. OFDs are disrupting traditional food environments, yet research evaluating the public health implications of such services is lacking,” the actual research stated.
About Uber Eats for Teens
Uber Eats for Teens is a brand-new feature of Uber Eats that allows young Australians ages 13 to 17 years old to order food via the app under their parents’ account. Once a parent sets up their profile, teens can go over menus and place orders without their parent’s approval. See the loophole?
For Uber Eats, this promotes independence amongst kids, but at the expense of parents who will be blamed if something happens to their kids when they order food not meant as midnight snacks, for instance.
Uber Eats is compensating, though. Parents receive real-time notifications whenever orders are placed. Monthly spending limits may also be set, and deliveries are tracked live. Alcohol products and age-restricted food goods are also blocked.
Do you agree with the researchers or they are just shaking things up at the expense of Uber? Share your thoughts on this website!