Today there are too many social media platforms and it is not easy to keep track of all of them. In most cases, parents are really worried about the safety of these platforms since their kids have grown an obsession with them. Then what is Tik Tok and why kids like this social media platform?
Tik Tok is one of the free social media apps for watching, creating and sharing videos. Usually, people create videos is using their phones. Originally Tik Tok was released as musical.ly. Later after merging two apps, today’s version of Tik Tok is released. In Tik Tok, users can enjoy lip-synching Dubsmash and they can also record videos with their lip-synching to popular music.
Why TikTok?
Tik Tok is mostly used to share user-generated videos and people like me because they can lip-sync with popular videos. This social media platform is used for creating videos where people are talking, dancing, and singing. Through Tik Tok, you can browse the content of other users and interact with them. Tik Tok is covering a wide range of topics like styles, songs, and dance. It is possible to use the hashtag to group videos on Tik Tok.
TikTok and safety
Of course, there is a risk associated with every social media account. This is the reason any social media account should be used with an adult’s supervision including Tik Tok. Once you create an account in Tik Tok it will be set as public. That means, any user can watch videos you shared and they can send you direct messages. Others can also use your location information when the account is public. Hence it is very important to change the settings and account information if a kid is using Tik Tok.
You should be able to interact with people you know. So, it is better to change the account to a private setting. You can change the entire account to the public or there are other setting options available. You can just change the settings for duets, comments, and reactions. It is important to change the messages to only friends and not for everyone.
Tik Tok-How Does it work?
Tik Tok users can sign up by using their email address, phone number, or Facebook account. They can also make use of their Instagram account. Once you logged in to the Tik Tok account you can start searching for popular video creators or you can also go with categories. For finding videos you can even use hashtags. It is possible to make use of phone contacts as well as social media followers for finding friends on Tik Tok. The majority of the Tik Tok users like to create videos. But most of them do not post the videos. They create videos for themselves. The rest of the user’s just login to Tik Tok and follow popular content creators.
Is TikTok suitable for kids?
The majority of the people have the opinion that kids alone cannot handle the Tik Tok account. The most important reason is because of its popularity today Tik Tok is filled with all kinds of videos. In most of the videos, you can even find sexual lyrics. Hence even though kids can watch some of the video categories, it’s not advisable to use the Tik Tok account on their own.
It is very important to restrict the usage of watching videos and made using popular tracks. Do not allow the kid to search on their own. Their search may lead to sex or porn videos by mistake. The best thing about Tik Tok is there is a separate section in the app just meant for kids. They can enjoy this category for watching videos on Tik Tok. Through this section, they will have access only to clean and curated videos. They will not be able to search, post, and comment on their videos. But, kids can enter the wrong birthdate and bypass this section.
There is an option where users can earn points by inviting others. The points earned can be redeemed as coupons. Usually, Tik Tok points are redeemed on Uber and Sephora. Tik Tok even allows you to earn real money by adding virtual coins into the wallet.
TikTok and age recommendation
Of course, we can say that Tik Tok is recommended for 15+ through our common sense. But, the app expects users should be more than 13 years old for using the app. If anyone below 18 is using the app then they need to have approval from their parents. But we can see so many young kids using Tik Tok. In case if the younger kid liked to use Tik Tok then the original account should be owned by the parent. It is better to offer the separate category meant for 13+ for kids.
Conclusion
Tik Tok is really attractive and it is difficult to stop your kid from using it once they are explored to this social media platform. Like many other social media platforms, Tik Tok can also be addictive. Kids can spend hours watching these videos.