Today’s youth are very different from their parents and other elders and social media plays an enormous role in their day-to-day lives.
WITH the rapid use of the internet and social media, the number of potential harm that young people face has increased exponentially.
The most common focus has been on emerging types of violence related to social media, such as cyberbullying, sexual predation, grooming, and harassment.
As soon as your child begins to use the internet, it’s important to explain your expectations of them, especially when it comes to safety measures.
TikTok, specifically, is encouraging its own community to brush up on their in-app safety knowledge as well as update their settings where necessary.
“TikTok is all about having fun and sharing lighthearted moments with friends or others around the world.
“In order to foster a space where creativity can thrive, the platform has been designed to safeguard the wellbeing of everyone in its community through various in-app safety features.
“We are always looking for ways to improve our current safety features and are continuously introducing new ones to help users feel comfortable,” says TikTok’s head of public policy in Africa, Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda.
Mgwili-Sibanda has shared some easy tips for users for users to make use of when using TikTok:
Act and speak out.
If there is something on the platform that you don’t like, and which goes against TikTok’s Community Guidelines, report it immediately.
The block feature also allows you to cut off any negative users from your account so there’s more time for you to create cool content.
Control and limit interactions.
When your account is set to private, you will be able to approve another user before they can follow your account and see your content.
You can choose who can find your account, duet with you, respond to your videos, and send you private messages.
You can decide who you want commenting or stitching your videos.
Encourage families to get involved.
The new bullying prevention guide has been introduced to help families learn how to identify bullying as well as tools to counter bullying and provide help to bullying victims or bystanders.
The platform also has Family Pairing, a functionality that allows a parent to link their TikTok account to their teens, offering features such as Screen Time Management, Restricted Mode, and Direct Message controls to provide parents with insight and control over how their teens use TikTok.
These features are also available for users outside of family pairing.
