(Last Updated On: November 7, 2022)

Is Social Media Good for Kids? 

Kids on Social Media: A Good Idea or Not? 

If you have children, you’ve probably pondered these questions many times: Is social media suitable for your kids? And should you allow them to be on social media or not? Don’t worry. If you haven’t decided already, this article can help you decide for yourself. Here, we will discuss the four most popular social media platforms among underage kids, their upsides and downsides, how teens and tweens use them, and what you can do to prevent potential harm to your child on social media. 

Most Popular Social Media Platforms Among Kids

The most used social media platforms among kids (in order of popularity) include: 

1. YouTube 
2. TikTok 
3. Instagram 
4. Snapchat 

Read the sections below to learn about greenhatfiles each of these platforms, their features, and their pros and cons. 

1. YouTube 

The most used social media by teens by a long shot, YouTube has a usage percentage of 95 among young adults. Kids spend a significant amount of time watching YouTube videos, which can be disconcerting to their parents. 

However, YouTube has a lot of advantages to offer its users. There are many educational videos on YouTube your child can benefit from, but you may need to check whether your child is using it this way, and rightfully so. 

Below are some features YouTube offers to ensure a safer online experience for your child. 

YouTube Kids 

Not all content on YouTube is suitable for underage children. But YouTube has a solution to this problem. If you have a tween, you can only allow them to use YouTube Kids, a service specifically designed for children. On YouTube Kids, your child will only have access to age-appropriate videos, so you wouldn’t worry about unsuitable content constantly. 

Supervised Accounts

That said, teens require access to more varied content than tweens (whether it be educational or entertainment), so you can’t expect them to use YouTube Kids. What you can do to ensure a safe online environment for your teenager is to decide what kind of videos you’d like them to be able to watch so that they wouldn’t have access to age-inappropriate content. 

YouTube enables parents to create supervised accounts for their younger teens. Supervised accounts allow you to pick your child’s age group and, thereby, limit or broaden their access to certain content. Supervised accounts provide parents with the following options to pick from: 

1. Explore: Generally aligns with content ratings for viewers 9+ 
2. Explore more: Generally aligns with content ratings for viewers 13+ 
3. Most of YouTube: Almost all videos on YouTube except for content marked as 18+ and other videos that may not be appropriate for viewers using supervised experiences 

It also limits children’s access to: 

• Live chats 
• Live stream viewing 
• Comments 
• Other functions like uploading 

YouTube: An Ad-supported Platform 

The videos your teen clicks on aren’t the only things to worry about. YouTube is an ad-supported platform. YouTube Kids claims to only show safe, kid-friendly ads, and supervised accounts also follow a made-for-kids ad policy. However, if your teen is using a regular YouTube account, you should think of other ways to protect them against inappropriate videos, ads, and comments. 

2. TikTok 

As a video-based social media app, TikTok offers fast-paced content that is perfect for its users. By paying attention to how the TV and movie industry has changed over the years, you can see that media is being made for shorter attention spans. 

Well, TikTok has learned this and incorporated it into its user interface. The media you watch on TikTok is short and is shown immediately after each one ends. However, since it wasn’t designed to be used by kids, you must keep an eye out when your child is using it. Read the sections below to learn what TikTok’s potential dangers are. 

Age-inappropriate videos

Many videos on TikTok are specifically made for adult audiences and introduce certain concepts, such as sex, that young children shouldn’t be exposed to. This exposure can negatively affect your child’s mental health, making them more prone to early puberty. 

Inappropriate comments

The videos aside, the comment section could also have inappropriate content for children. The “inappropriate content” we’re talking about could be anything from curse words to harmful content, such as death threats or racial slurs. Exposure to such material can introduce kids to concepts that do more harm than good. 

Breach of online privacy

It’s a well-known fact that almost all apps collect user data and use it for advertisement purposes. However, that’s not the only way apps can use your data. The TikTok application gives you the usual privacy policy statements but what they don’t tell you is that they even access your clipboard’s content. This can be a significant breach of privacy, especially if your child has copied sensitive information such as credit card numbers. 

3. Snapchat

As an image messaging application, Snapchat allows users to take instant photos, known as “snaps,” edit them using unique photo filters and share them with others. If your kid is on Snapchat, they can send photos of themselves to others and receive such images. What makes Snapchat different from similar applications is that it automatically deletes sent photos. And if one side screenshots the other person’s picture, Snapchat will notify the sender.

While people don’t primarily use Snapchat for socializing, the platform is still categorized as a social app. And like other social apps, Snapchat requires parents to ensure a safe environment while using the app. Here are a few issues that may concern you as a parent when it comes to securing your kid’s online activity: 

Snaps Are Not Monitored

Snapchat deleting snaps automatically may make the platform more private and secure by ensuring the photos can’t be shared in the long run. However, it also makes it difficult to moderate the content people send to each other. If your kid is on Snapchat, they may receive inappropriate material, and you may not be able to report it until after your child sees it. 

Predators might also use the platform to ask your kid for photos without your knowledge. If you don’t want to forbid your kid from being on Snapchat entirely, you must talk to them about the dangers of the app. Tell them they won’t be in trouble if they talk to you about inappropriate interactions they’ve had on Snapchat. 

Snaps Can Be Saved Before They Disappear

While shared photos are erased by default, it doesn’t mean the receiver cannot save the picture. Snapchat does tell you if someone takes a screenshot of your image, but it does not stop them from screenshotting your snap. People can bypass the screenshot alert by using another device to capture a shot from the receiving device’s screen. 

4. Instagram

As a platform on which people can share personal pictures and videos, send direct messages, and explore content based on their likes and views, Instagram is very popular among teens. Statistics suggest that more than 60% of teenagers have Instagram accounts. However, it has some disadvantages, which might not make it popular among parents. 

Popular, Sure, But Is It Safe? 

Instagram isn’t precisely the best social media app to encourage your child to have an account on because: 

• It has no kid’s version:  All children above thirteen are eligible to create an account on it. Once your child

has an account, they will have access to all the content on the platform with no restriction. 

• There is no built-in parental control available: You can’t limit your child’s activity through the app itself. 

Nevertheless, it’s beautiful to teens. So, if your teen insists on having an Instagram account, banning them will work neither to your nor your kid’s advantage, for they can quickly create an account without your knowledge or permission. 

The only things you can do to make sure they’re safe on Instagram are to have a one-on-one conversation with them about its potential dangers and to use parental control apps to monitor their activities on Instagram. 

Parents: What Can You Do? 

Although they come with some disadvantages, there are also quite a few advantages to social media platforms your kid can benefit from. And believe it or not, there is a way to keep your kid safe on social media. Using parental control apps can save you a lot of trouble keeping an eye on your child’s activities on these apps. 

If you’d like to know more about the effects of social media on your child, we suggest you read How Social Media Affects Your Kids on the Safes website.