TikTok has become a popular social media, especially with young people and teenagers. In fact, the TikTok trend has gone beyond mere dance moves and upgraded into jokes, songs, mixed video formats, etc. Most of the content on TikTok is relatively harmless, not to mention some highly creative.
However, any social network has its downside, and so does TikTok. As a wise and modern parent, pay attention to the dangers of TikTok as soon as possible to promptly minimize the risk of your children being severely affected by inappropriate content.
What is TikTok? An innovative social network?
TikTok allows kids to edit videos and lip-sync, as well as allowing them to do what they like create their own funny, unique plots and showcase their talents and personalities. This is why kids often enjoy playing TikTok, especially with friends. And TikTok’s editing features make it easy for kids to create professional-looking videos, which also allows kids to unleash their creativity.
However, for any app, parents need to keep track of what their kids can do and share with others.
The dangers of TikTok which are attacking children
Inappropriate content
It seems that TikTok is for everyone because almost every age group uses TikTok. Because of the large and diverse user base, your child may come across adults swearing, bragging, and dancing provocatively. In addition, many users also report seeing nudity on TikTok, which no parent wants their child to see.
Besides inappropriate pornography, TikTok also has hashtags that have been linked to dangerous behaviors such as self-harm like cutting hands.
TikTok has a feature that allows users to filter, report spam, offensive comments and specific keywords, and block accounts, but, the filter is not always 100% accurate.
TikTok makes many kids want to be praised and famous through likes, comments and followers. When the desire to be famous is so strong, children will find ways to attract followers, so it is not uncommon for many children to take risks to engage in risky and sexually suggestive behaviors.
Dangerous TikTok trends
Reports of problems have surfaced recently showing that challenges on TikTok can be life-threatening, posing a great danger to kids trying to get attention on the platform which works on this short video. Below are some of the most dangerous TikTok trends to watch out for to keep your kids safe.
Silhouette Challenge
When doing the challenge, the person filming the clip (usually a woman) will stand in the doorway, posing sexy or dancing to the music. The backlit red light makes the girls appear like a mysterious shadow that is both seductive and cleverly showing off their body curves.
Source: @mrsmosquito/TikTok
However, the Silhouette Challenge has posed serious problems when there are people who take advantage of this to edit TikTok videos that expose women’s bodies. Some edited clips are posted online without the owner’s consent.
Challenge of throwing objects in the air
The throw it up challenge does not involve a group of friends standing in a circle, looking down at their phones that have been placed on the ground, throwing something in the air and challenging you not to let them fall down my head. But guess what, how many of them successfully not let the objects fall down their heads?
Coin Challenge
The challenge involves sliding a dime behind a partially plugged-in phone charger. While this trend may seem harmless, coins can hit metal prongs, causing sparks, damage to electrical systems, and in some cases, fires.
Source: TikTok
A prime example is a scorched store in Holden attributed to the ordeal. In another incident, a student at Plymouth North High School allegedly started a fire after performing an ordeal. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Online Bullying
Online Bullying on TikTok often comes in the form of comments with cruel, malicious comments that have a very negative and lasting effect on your child’s behavior and psychology. So, be subtly aware of your child’s unusual expressions and attitudes and talk together to find a way to solve the problem.
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What should parents do to better protect their children from the dangers of TikTok?
Some TikTok safety tips for your kids:
- Limit who can see your child’s TikTok videos by setting the account to “private”. With a private account, only the people you approve of can follow, comment on, and like your child’s videos.
- Talk to your kids about appropriate content and appropriate content on TikTok.
- Explain to them the dangers and consequences of anything they post without thinking, and let them realize that whatever they post online will last forever.
- Teach your child how to behave online when chatting and interacting with friends.
- Install content filtering tools that use the most advanced technology like AI to hide porn, self-harm, suicide, gory, horror content from reaching your children.
- Regularly go online with your child, watching the apps or games your child plays or the videos your child watches, this will help you share experiences with them, foster family relationships, and check if the content is relevant or not.
- Be a role model for your child.
- All children – including teenagers – look at their parents’ behavior and imitate it, so being your child’s role model is a positive and effective way to guide your child’s behavior when using the Internet.
- Experience the application for yourself to grasp the risks of TikTok in the most direct and honest way.
- Educate your teens about what to post and what not to post. So you need to remind your child not to reveal personal information like name, address, phone number or date of birth as attackers will rely on it to chat with your teen, pretending to be his or her friend of their parents or acquaintances.
- Tell your child if someone they don’t know contact them online or if they feel something is wrong with them on the Internet, share it with a friend.
- Continue talking to your child about what’s going on in their daily lives, including potential Internet threats.
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