Due to the various dangers and effects of social media, it is necessary that parents restrict their children from using social media until at least 13 years old. At that age, they may introduce those apps to their children so the process becomes more gradual and easier to monitor.
Dr Kristy also agrees that 13 would be the absolute minimum, however 'It's difficult to prescribe a precise age limit as kids need to have social and emotional skills to cope with the demands of social media. For some kids, this is 13 years and for other kids it may be 15 years.
Jean Twenge, our nation's leading researcher on how social media impacts child and adolescent development, recommends that no child under 13 should be on any social media, including TikTok. And I would add that many 13-year-olds aren't ready. TikTok offers a curated version of their app for under-13s. Don't use it.
30, 2023 -- The U.S. Surgeon General says 13 years old is too young to begin using social media. Most social media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook allow users to create accounts if they say they are at least 13 years old.
Kids are extremely vulnerable on the internet, especially at such a naive and immature age. When it comes to content related to sexual exploitation, cyberbullying or online scams, adolescents are likely to be victimized. Without being properly monitored by parents, children are easily susceptible in these situations.
Due to the various dangers and effects of social media, it is necessary that parents restrict their children from using social media until at least 13 years old. At that age, they may introduce those apps to their children so the process becomes more gradual and easier to monitor.
A review of the research suggests that too much time on social media is linked with poor sleep and worse mental health for teens. Because the teen years are critical for overall brain development, other research indicates the harm could be long term.
As part of their privacy policies, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube specify that users must be at least 13 years old. Parents may be unaware of this requirement.
What is TikTok? TikTok is a video-sharing platform where you can watch and create videos, and livestream. The app has an age-rating of 13+.
Instagram requires everyone to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account (in some jurisdictions, this age limit may be higher). Accounts that represent someone under the age of 13 must clearly state in the account's bio that the account is managed by a parent or manager.
Common Sense Media rates Snapchat OK for teens 16 and up, mainly because of the exposure to age-inappropriate content and the marketing ploys, such as quizzes, that collect data.
Zigazoo, the startup known for its TikTok-style video-sharing app for kids, is launching a separate app targeted at Gen Z users.
What age-rating is Snapchat? The platform is rated 13+. How does Snapchat work? The platform mainly operates as a messaging app where users can communicate with each other using videos and images.
Experts agree that parental oversight is crucial when kids are starting to use social media. “Initial access should come with a lot of talk beforehand and a parent saying, 'Here's what I consider to be acceptable and unacceptable behavior,'” Dr. Anderson explains.
Learning: your child can use social media to better understand, extend or share what they're learning at school, either informally or in formal school settings. Hobbies and interests: your child can use social media to follow their interests and learn new ones.
By age 12, it's 71 percent. By 14, it's 91 percent. Max Stossel, the founder and CEO of Social Awakening, a group that promotes healthy use of technology and social media, recommends that parents hold the line on giving kids smartphones until at least eighth grade.
What age is TikTok recommended for? Common Sense recommends the app for age 15+ mainly due to the privacy issues and mature content. TikTok requires that users be at least 13 years old to use the basic TikTok features, although there is a way for younger kids to access the app.
Suggestive Content Abounds
With TikTok being mostly based on music and video, profanity and suggestive clothing/dancing are the most obvious sources of adult content. But the app also encourages some themes that are much more mature than their 16+ rating would suggest.
1 ENABLE device-level parental controls
TikTok states that the app is intended for users aged 13 years and over and has a 12+ App Store rating.
Major social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, require users to be at least 13. This includes those in Australia and New Zealand. This minimum age requirement stems from 1998 US legislation which banned the collection of children's personal data without parental consent.
How old should kids be to use Instagram? According to the terms of service, you have to be 13, but there's no age-verification process, so it's very easy for kids under 13 to sign up. Common Sense rates Instagram for age 15 and up because of mature content, access to strangers, marketing ploys, and data collection.
Tweens' time spent using social media is also up eight minutes a day among this age group (from 10 to 18 minutes a day, on average), with the top five social media sites tweens have ever used being Snapchat (13 percent), Instagram (10 percent), Facebook (8 percent), Discord (5 percent) and Pinterest (4 percent).
It is also important for parents to realize that 13 is the minimum age for most social media sites. 13 years is the age set by Congress in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits websites from collecting information on children younger than 13 years without parental permission.