what is tiktok? how safe is tiktok? how does tiktok work Is tiktok suitable for children?What age is tiktok recommended for? Can children under 13 use tiktok? how can you make your tiktok account private?how can i use tiktok with my kids?how do you duet on tiktok?what are tiktok challenges? kids activity on tiktok? what if my son wants to become famous on tiktok? should i worry about tiktok security?
what is tiktok?
tiktok is a social network for sharing user-generated videos, mostly of people lip-syncing to popular songs. Users can create and upload their own videos, many of which feature people lip-syncing to popular songs. You can also browse and interact with other users’ content, which covers a wide range of topics, songs and styles. these videos can be grouped by hashtags, which often correspond to challenges, memes, or current events (like #pandemiclife).
how secure is tiktok?
Using any social network can be risky, but it is possible for children to use the app safely with adult supervision (and a private account). tiktok has different rules for different ages:
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Users under the age of 13 are not allowed to post videos or comment, and the content is curated for a younger audience.
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for children ages 13-15, accounts are private by default. Only friends can comment on videos and other users cannot duet (explained below) with your videos.
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Only users 16 years of age or older can go live and use direct messages, and only users 18 years of age or older can buy, send, or receive virtual gifts.
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in March 2023, tiktok announced a 60 minute/day time limit for users under the age of 18, requiring a password to be entered for further access to the platform.
tiktok also offers some tools for parents and caregivers to further limit the time kids spend on the app and what they can see. Parents and caregivers can also use Restricted Mode to reduce adult content or Family Safe Mode to pair your account with your child’s account for complete settings control.
how does tiktok work?
tiktok users sign up with a phone number, email address, or third-party account such as facebook and instagram. Once you’re signed in, you can find videos by searching for popular creators, categories (like comedy, animals, sports), and hashtags. Or you can use your phone contacts or social media followers to find friends who are already on the app. Many kids on tiktok like to create videos, but many people don’t post themselves, they just use the app to find and follow content creators.
Is tiktok suitable for children?
tiktok can be a kid-friendly experience if you supervise your kids, use safety settings, and stick to songs you already know. But TikTok’s emphasis on popular music means that many videos include profanity and sexual lyrics, so it may not be age-appropriate for children to use alone. even with limits, it’s easy to find people wearing revealing clothes and dancing suggestively, though tiktok won’t let you search for objectionable content like “porn”.
As with social media apps like instagram and snapchat, tiktok has a commercial element that encourages people to buy things. Users can also earn tiktok reward points by inviting friends to download the app and can then redeem those points for coupons from brands like sephora and uber.
For what age is tiktok recommended?
common sense recommends the app for ages 15+ mainly due to privacy concerns and adult content. tiktok requires users to be at least 13 years old to use basic tiktok features, although there is a way for younger children to access the app.
Can children under 13 use tiktok?
A section of the app that includes additional security and privacy features is available in the US. uu. for children under 13 years of age. In this section, kids can only watch clean, curated videos, and they can’t comment, search, or post their own videos. however, the lack of these features makes it unappealing to most children. and skipping that section only requires entering a fake birthdate, so it’s not perfect.
how can you make your tiktok account private?
To make your tiktok account private, go to your profile page and select the three dots icon in the top right corner. On the “settings and privacy” page, tap privacy. which takes you to the visibility page. toggle the private account switch. On this page, you can also control other security and privacy features, such as who can send you comments and direct messages, and who can do a duet with you. using the friends settings or turning off those features completely limits contact with strangers.
how can i use tiktok with my kids?
It can provide a barrier between kids and questionable content when watching with your kids and making videos together. Offer to hold the camera or turn it around for a duo selfie. you can publish it or save it as “private” so that only you can see it. The app also allows you to share videos via email, text, or other social media apps, where you can better control who sees them.
tiktok introduced family pairing mode in 2022, which allows parents to link their account to their child’s account. includes the ability to set daily viewing time limits, put a child’s account in restricted mode to limit their exposure to content that may not be appropriate, and disable their ability to send and receive direct messages. Parents can also disable their child’s search feature and prevent other users from seeing what videos their child has liked.
how do you make a duet on tiktok?
tiktok has a feature that allows two users who are not in the same place to perform a duet. a user creates and posts a video, and then a mutual follower can tap the three-dot icon at the bottom right of the video and select “start duet now!”. the second user can lip sync with the first person. , either by switching back and forth or in a split screen.
what are tiktok challenges?
challenges are any idea that goes viral. They can be songs, activities or dances that start to become a trend and then users copy them on the platform. sometimes they are spontaneous, but sometimes they are planned by brands, music artists or influencers for marketing purposes.
Most of the popular challenges, like the intricately choreographed dance number renegade and pranks like mixing up the fridge with a backwards hoodie, are harmless. but some, like the skullbreaker, are really dangerous. learn more about viral internet stunts and how to talk to your child about them.
does tiktok have parental controls?
tiktok offers a few ways for parents and caregivers to manage children’s accounts. you can enable time limits and content filtering on your child’s phone and protect the settings with a passcode. Or you can download tiktok, create your own account and use the family pairing feature to manage your child’s tiktok settings using your phone. (If you choose family pairing, you’ll need your child’s phone to sync settings.)
Here’s how to enable screen limits and filter content on your child’s phone: Go to your child’s tiktok account within the app and tap the three dots on the top right of the user profile. then select “digital wellbeing” next to an umbrella icon. from there, select the features you want to enable:
Management of screen time. This setting limits users’ time in the app per day. if you’re only enabling this on your child’s phone, choose a passcode to lock the setting.
Restricted mode. This blocks adult content, but even with the filter turned on, kids using the app alone may encounter age-inappropriate videos. lock the setup with a passcode.
to set up family pairing so you can manage the above settings, plus security and privacy, first download tiktok on your phone and create an account. then make sure you have your child’s phone and tiktok login handy.
Family pairing. on both phones, tap the three dots next to the user profile. then tap on family pairing and sync your account with your child’s via the qr code.
note that kids can always re-download tiktok and create a new account with a different phone number or email address, so any controls you enable won’t be foolproof.
how can I control my child’s activity on tiktok?
The app’s controls appear to be more geared towards limiting children’s access to virtual gifts that can be purchased with real money, rather than providing parents with regular monitoring capabilities. Restricted Mode was designed to prevent children from viewing adult content, as long as they don’t try to find it independently, and adults can sign up for an account and then link it to their child’s account through Family Pairing mode. children will need to accept their parent’s request to connect the accounts. if they do, parents can set a number of limitations, such as disabling direct messages and setting daily time limits.
what if my son wants to become famous on tiktok?
While the safest way to use tiktok is with a private account, the social nature of the app and the rapid success of some of its stars, including charli d’amelio, a dancer whose tiktok fame led to a television contract, you could have your children begging to go public. There’s a lot of incentive to get famous, including TikTok houses where groups of young creators live, make videos, and potentially get big-money sponsorships and endorsements. Children familiar with these examples can be persuaded to do or share things they normally would not do in order to gain a wider audience. they can also become obsessed with likes and virtual approval, which is unhealthy for their emotional well-being. Parents can manage this by encouraging and modeling safe behavior and setting limits on the types of information children share.
should i worry about the security of tiktok?
Many people and organizations, including the US. uu. The government and companies like Wells Fargo are concerned that Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company (based in China), is using the app to spy on users in other countries. TikTok’s investigations found that the app’s privacy policy and data collection practices are no worse than those of other social media apps, and that concerns about spying are likely overblown. (However, the company does monitor Chinese app users.)
That being said, tiktok doesn’t necessarily have a perfect record when it comes to privacy and security. for example, they recently fixed a bug that allowed the app to access users’ clipboards (where the things you copy and paste are stored) every three seconds, even when they weren’t using the app. they also illegally stored data of minors.
read common sense media’s full tiktok review and learn more about this popular platform.
