With a limitless amount of content being available at the tip of our fingers, a sense of curiosity and the fear of missing out has developed among people, especially children. Every few years, a new social media platform comes up with a raging strategy of keeping its audience hooked. One such platform is Tik Tok. It is growing exceedingly addictive among children for a variety of reasons. Like any other platform, Tik Tok also has its own set of dangers, and it is of utmost importance to have complete knowledge of them. To help you with that, this particular write-up will guide you in developing a detailed perspective towards the dangers of Tik Tok for kids. Let's get started!
What are the dangers of Tik Tok among kids?
Inappropriate content gets accessed easily.
Tik Tok publishes content for people belonging to all age groups, making it very straightforward for kids to come across inappropriate content such as explicit lyrics, sexually suggestive images or videos, risky stunts, and other life-threatening activities. Consumption of such content can adversely affect their thinking pattern, which may cause children to get inclined towards unwanted behavior, whether knowingly or unknowingly. It may also negatively affect their mental health if such content gets consumed regularly. Besides, kids develop a desire to even buy views on Tik Tok, hampering with their dopamine release.
They may become the targets of predators
With the limitless connectivity with anyone, we wish to speak with a concerning set of dangers. Any individual following a Tik Tok user can reach them and initiate a conversation. Children being children, can be easily lured and are, therefore, the ultimate target of predators. The "duets" feature encourages the user to mix and match the Tik Tok videos of two users and is also found to be used in inappropriate ways, especially with the videos of children. Besides, the comment section is also used to get in touch with children by merely praising them for their content.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a serious crime and has been widely prevalent on a platform like Tik Tok, especially among children. Bullies draw out content that they consider "uncool" or "cringeworthy", create compilations, and make them go viral. Such acts give rise to hate speech, mocking, and offensive behaviour towards the members present in the video. Once they go viral on the internet, they may be attacked with the same behavior in real life too. Such incidents may cause children to develop social anxiety or depressive episodes, which may persist for a long time.
Immoderate screen time
The children are so glued to social media these days, that they end up buying views on multiple social media. But when it comes to Tik Tok, the addiction is too intense and may have severe repercussions if not controlled. The curiosity to know what the next video is about, coupled with the fear of not keeping up with trends and becoming "uncool in school," has caused kids to stay on the app all day, raising the screen time like never before. It leads to several adverse outcomes such as physical strain to the eyes, lack of sleep, obesity, behavior problems, and so on.
Apart from these, other dangers include:
Oversharing information
Declining mental health
Forming unrealistic expectations
Irrational need for likes and fame, etc.
CONCLUSION
The harms of Tik Tok are severe and must be understood by every parent. If your child uses Tik Tok, make sure you know what kind of content they are consuming. You may also change the settings of the app such that filtered content reaches your child. Besides, please keep track of their mental and physical health, and reach out to health professionals or therapists whenever you sense the need for it.