TikTok is a very popular app with over 1 billion users and 200 millions of those are from the US. It is a Chinese company called ByteDance. This app was created in 2016 and has been increasing its popularity more and more. TikTok is a way of entertainment for everybody but I am sure we all agree that it is very easy to waste hours and hours just using the app without being conscious of how much time you’ve spent. The age limit for having a TikTok profile is currently 13 years old, but you still can’t use all the functions until you are 16. Making live videos, sending and receiving direct text messages and allowing people to download their videos are functions restricted to 16 years old. Actually 32.5% of the users are between 10-19 year old, 29.5% between 20-29, 16.4% between 30-39, 13.9% between 40-49 and less than 7.1% have more than 50 years. In July, TikTok classified more than a third of its 49 million daily users in the United States as being 14 years old or younger, but how can that be possible if the age limit is 13? TikTok is very popular among teenagers but it is actually starting to be used by younger kids who don’t know the dangers they can expose to if they have TikTok at such a young age. According to some studies 3 out of 10 parents allow their children to have social media before the age of 13, this can be very harmful for children who most of the time are not concerned about.
In my opinion there are pros and cons of the age limit of TikTok. Some pros are that they can easily communicate with their friends if they don’t have a phone yet, they can be connected and have the knowledge of recent news in the world and it is a way of entertainment for them.
On the contrary, there are some cons. Having TikTok at such a young age could cause some children addiction and these could affect their social life, their family relationship and the most important, their school grades. Some children don’t know what they are doing and they can end up chatting with strange people and end up giving confidential information. There have been some severe cases in which kids lost their lives because they were trying a new trend just for fun but they didn’t know how dangerous it was. For example, two girls who were 8 and 9 years old, died because they were trying to do the "blackout challenge" which consisted of choking themselves until they passed out. Finally, in TikTok there are a lot of fake news a lot of people believe they are true, for example, there has been a recent fake new about having found a crucified child in the Ukraine and Russian war.
For me the perfect TikTok age limit would be 15 years old. I think at this age children are mature enough to understand the different functions the app has and being concerned about the dangers it could have and the careful that they have to be. However, restricting TikTok to 15 years old and older, could end up with a lot of people faking their age to be able to have a profile. This is a problem I think parents should deal with cause it is very difficult for TikTok to figure out what is the actual age of their users.
Would you increase or decrease the TikTok age limit and why?
Would you allow your children to have TikTok at such a young age?
Should parents of kids under 13 years old be conscious about what content their kids watch?
Sources:
https://www.elgrupoinformatico.com/noticias/cual-edad-minima-para-entrar-tiktok-t78402.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/technology/tiktok-underage-users-ftc.html
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/05/tiktok-girls-dead-blackout-challenge
Replies
This is a very interesting topic. Thank you for expressing your opinion. I think that the age limit should be changed, but no matter what, people will just fake their age and will still be allowed to use the app. I think that guidelines should be more strict to the more sexual and disturbing videos. And get rid of part of the danger to the app.
I do think that the tiktok age limit should be like 14 or something because some 12 year olds make weird tiktoks that no one wants to see. I think that to have the responsibility to be able to post dancing videos or other embarrassing things they will regret.
I would consider easing the age limit considering what little kid can be exposed to on the app. Even though most kids simply just lie about how old they are the age should be changed. Parents of younger kids should be able to restrict certain things so their kid is not exsoped to things a little kid shouldn't see.
I agree that parents should be able to restrict certaing things. However, a lot of kids just lie with their age to beign able to create a profile so if the age limit is higher some could think they should be older to have the app.
In my opinion, I would increase the age limit for TikTok. Although for most children, it would not affect their ability to access the app. This is because most young kids usually lie about their age to access all of the apps features, but for kids who have a parent making them their account, their age will be the correct one. I would not allow my child to have TkikTok at that young of an age. TikTok is an app with tons of misinformation and horrible trends, I would only let them to have the app until they are mature enough to use it. Parents should always be conscious about what their (young) kids are watching, and it would be bad parenting otherwise.
I agree with you and I would also increase the TikTok age limit.
If i were a parent and i see my child making fairy videos or videos like that i would be concerned especially if they are under the age of 15 i feel tiktok should make the age limit 15 to just post videos so the children using the app can only watch videos and atleast be a little mature by the time they can start posting tiktok videos. i also belive that parents should be able to litmit the types of videos children watch as i have seen some pretty bad stuff on an app meant for teens and some teens are not mature enough to whatch those videos i feel tiktok is a bad app for children and some teens.
I think that it would be a perfect idea to permit children between 13 and 15 to watch videos and when they are 15, which means they are mature enough, they could post videos.
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