4 Tips To Make TikTok Safe for Kids

Educate children about online safety

Although the internet is a wonderful place to learn new things, there’s a need to educate children on the subject of online safety to avoid potential dangers in the digital world. Parents can create a safe space where kids feel comfortable to talk about their bad experiences and what they have seen on social media platforms like TikTok. It’s a good idea to encourage teens to be more compassionate and not participate in any cyberbullying activities, which damage a person’s mental health. Parents can also monitor their child’s online behavior to ward off predators before it’s too late and openly discuss the dangers of online groomers. Moreover, going over the importance of keeping personal information private is necessary to protect children from stalking, harassment, and identity theft.

Monitor online activity

With so many dangers lurking on the internet, it’s crucial to monitor digital platforms like TikTok. While it may seem like an invasion of privacy, tracking online activity is the only way for parents to determine what kids get up to on social media platforms. Adults can check how much time their children spend watching videos on the app and keep tabs on direct messages, comments on posts, and follower requests. If a child’s behavior starts changing, it’s best to limit the amount of time spent on TikTok. Since it’s impossible to manually monitor content 24/7, parents can use the platform’s built-in parental control settings and third-party monitoring apps to ensure that it’s child friendly.

Set up family pairing

To start using TikTok, users must provide their date of birth and be at least 13 years old. While it’s obvious that kids can fool the system into thinking they are much older, the platform offers a variety of parental control options that facilitate the management of a child’s account. Thanks to Family Pairing, parents can link their own TikTok account to their children’s and set up parental supervision. Some of its features include limiting screen time, turning the search function on and off, and disabling direct messaging altogether. There’s also the option of enabling restricted mode, which filters out offensive and inappropriate content. Setting up TikTok’s parental control function is as straightforward as going to the family pairing option in the main settings and following the step-by-step instructions to link accounts.

Install parental control software

Despite having a reasonable parental control system in place, TikTok is not without its flaws. Youngsters can bypass the platform’s Family Pairing function using internet resources that guide children on how to find ways around the built-in restrictions. Fortunately, it’s possible to combine TikTok’s Family Pairing with a parental control app like Bark, which uses advanced AI technology to crawl through social media interactions and search history and identify potential threats. The monitoring app sends alerts about any suspicious activity detected on TikTok and gives guidance on how to discuss online security with kids, not to mention that it can restrict access to the popular video-sharing service. Bark is the leader of the pack as it supports not only TikTok but also 30 other apps and social platforms. The best part is that it can be installed on an unlimited number of devices, including smartphones, Chromebook, and Amazon Fire tablets.

It can be challenging to protect children’s innocence in a digital world where everything on social media seems to be readily available for everyone to access and consume. However, families can keep their children safe by educating them about the dangers of using social media platforms like TikTok, which is constantly under fire for the amount of inappropriate content on its platform. Moreover, parents can use TikTok’s built-in Family Pairing option and third-party parental control tools to monitor their children’s online activity and prevent them from accessing harmful content.