A new survey conducted among over 1,800 parents indicates that they are worried about what their children are doing on social media, with the majority of those survey stating that they are most worried their children’s habits on TikTok.
The survey, conducted by OnBuy among 1,862 parents found that 89% fear for their child’s safety online while 84% worry about TikTok the most compared to other popular social media apps. According to the survey, only 64% of parents are certain that their child has a private (or locked) social media account while 92% believe that TikTok needs to take more action to make it safer for children and teens with 7 out of 10 parents in the survey stating that they believe that their child is not safe using TikTok.
“Social media is at the forefront of many parents’ concerns due to the dangers it repeatedly possesses. As a result, OnBuy.com were eager to discover how parents of under-17s feel about their child using social media – specifically TikTok, which has recently become an issue for many parents,” stated OnBuy in a media release.
The survey, which involved parents of children under-17 who use social media, found that other apps that worry parents include Instagram (81%), YouTube (55%) and Snapchat (54%).
Even though 89% of the parents in the survey fear for their child’s safety online, 67% still let their child take their phone to bed, where they are unsupervised and unmonitored. Of the parents surveyed, 39% admitted that they find it difficult to moderate their child’s screen time and almost 1 in 4 don’t monitor their social media usage at all.
Interestingly, 24% of the parents are unsure if their child’s social media is on private, while only 64% of parents are certain that their child has a locked (or private) account.
During the survey, OnBuy asked parents to rank their biggest fears with their child posting online content and has discovered that they worry most about predators confronting their child through social media. Asked about what worries them the most when their children post content online, here is what concerns them the most – predators; sexual exploitation and explicit content; cyberbullying; dangerous viral challenges; dangerous propaganda; virtual coin payment; and animal abuse.
Regarding recent trends, 40% of those surveyed worry about the viral ‘skull breaker’ challenge more than any other, followed by the ‘outlet challenge’ (22%) and the ‘fainting /choking challenge’ (19%).
After analysing Google’s search trends, OnBuy discovered that searches for ‘TikTok safe’ are three times higher than they were in June 2019, demonstrating that safety concerns have skyrocketed.
According to the OnBuy survey, it has become evident that parents are more concerned about TikTok safety than Snapchat; searches regarding TikTok’s safety have overtaken Snapchat and is on the way to passing Twitter.
Reached for comment regarding the OnBuy survey, TikTok said that promoting a safe and positive app experience remains the company’s top priority, adding that the firm has “a number of protective measures in place to protect against misuse.”
“TikTok is an app for users aged 13 years and above, as per our Terms of Service. The app includes age-gating measures at signup, and we’ve also set a 12+ App Store rating which enables parents to simply block it from their child’s phone using device-based parental controls. For teens and parents, we offer a number of in-app controls like privacy settings, comment controls, a restricted viewing mode, and screen time management. We also provide educational resources in our Safety Center,” the company stated.
“We encourage parents to take an active role in their teen’s online experience overall by starting the conversation early about internet safety and guide teens to use the app in an age-appropriate manner.”
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