KOCHI: For most teenagers, their social media debut is the first exposure to the world outside. Therefore, in today’s digital age, teenagers need to be prepped for social media activity as well. TikTok, the short video sharing app, run by ByteDance, is the trend of the season with the Gen Z actively participating and expressing themselves freely through the 15-second videos. With TikTok being the most popular app, here is a list of things parents can do to safeguard their children:
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Encourage positivity: Several hashtags are trending in the app at any given point. So, parents should help the youngsters to understand which are some of the good, positive and trending hashtags to follow. For example #EduTok has some knowledge-driven and motivational videos.
Keep a check on the time spent: There is a safety feature called Digital Wellbeing. Through this, parents can set up time limits of 40, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. If teenagers reach their screen time limit, they will need to enter a password to continue. This makes monitoring their engagement easier.
Control the content watched: Another feature that promotes digital wellbeing is Restricted Mode. ‘Restricted mode’ limits the content in the app that may not be appropriate for young users. This feature can be activated via a password.
Keep the haters out: To keep your teenager safe from unpleasant comments, introduce them to the comments-filter feature. With this, you can select up to 30 keywords in Hindi and English, to be filtered out automatically from comments. This is an excellent way to protect your child from cyber-bullies.
For 13 yrs and above only: TikTok only allows users above the age of 13 years. Age Gate is the in-app safety feature which allows only users who are 13 or above to create or log on to the platform.
Device Management: The Device Management feature, introduced by the platform, allows users to end sessions or remove their accounts from other devices from within TikTok. This feature will help parents avoid the misuse of children’s accounts.Tiktok was developed by ByteDance, a technology company delivering a range of popular mobile platforms.