TikTok Trance
TikTok is an app that passes time when you are bored. But, sometimes, it makes the time pass TOO quickly. Most users are familiar with the phenomenon of viewing a TikTok video, only to “lose time” and realize they have wasted an hour or more watching them. How do short videos add up to so much time? They are quick, easy to listen to, and you don’t get bored watching them. Those addictive elements add up to wanting to watch the next video, and the next, and the next, until you wake up from the TikTok trance and realize you spent way too much of your day on this app without really remembering any of the videos you watched. This is only one problematic issue with TikTok. The platform is becoming notorious for not monitoring sexually explicit content and language as well, on its U.S. platform, allowing “R rated” and beyond content to reach very young viewers, as it doesn’t enforce its owns “must be 13” in any meaningful way. Combine that with well documented privacy and data security concerns, and you can see it may be time to give TikTok a well deserved farewell (or at least, a well deserved break).
Unfortunately, many parents do not monitor their teen’s smartphone use and do not know what type of content their teen is consuming on a regular basis. This past week, I taught about 50 seventh grade students (13 year-olds) and asked them if they had a smartphone. About 45 of the 50 had a smartphone and most acknowledged that they have no restrictions in regards to screen time, having the phone in their bedroom, or downloading apps. While I understand the pressure that younger teens feel to “fit in” and stay up-to-date on the latest TikTok trends, this is not an excuse for parents to allow their teens to have unlimited access to their phones or to apps like TikTok. If you are a parent of teen that is currently using TikTok, I would encourage you to watch TikTok videos with your teen so that you can observe the type of content that they are seeing on a regular basis. While this may be an eye-opening experience for you, hopefully it will lead to good discussions with your teen and maybe even help them see the need to have some restrictions in place! The main point is that parents need to know what types of content their teens are viewing and seeing every day in order to help them make the healthiest choices.