TikTok Warning to Families, Delete the App!

Experts warn that applications such as TikTok, where lip-syncing of music videos is widely done, are mostly preferred by young people, and that this is becoming addictive day by day and the platform is becoming more and more popular. He stated that violence, sexuality, nudity, use of profanity and slang, cyberbullying, encouragement to use drugs and sexual abuse have reached their peak. Experts stated that content praising terrorist organizations has also increased on TikTok recently and warned young people and their families against applications that harm national and moral values.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selman Tunay Kamer, Head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Kastamonu University Faculty of Education, said that children can trample national and moral values ​​while trying to earn money. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kamer, who emphasized that he conducts research on society, culture and education, stated that the negative effects of the TikTok application, which has increased in popularity especially during the pandemic period, have increased especially on young people and children.

Reminding that TikTok is an entertainment platform, Kamer emphasized that one of the most important features of the application is the live broadcast feature. Underlining that users can engage in some unpleasant behaviors to earn money during live broadcasts, Kamer said, “The application currently has 689 million users. In other words, it has a very serious market. It can come to the point of trampling on national and moral values ​​in order to earn money during live broadcasts.”

Kamer, who stated that the coins loaded into the account on TikTok can be transferred as money to the people who are live broadcasting, said, “There is a coin application in the application. You can load between 100 and 10 thousand coins to your account. You can send these virtual gifts to the person whose live broadcast you are watching. These gifts can be gifts such as kisses, roses, money rain, evil eye beads, yachts and cars. There is a fee for these too. In return, the person who is live broadcasting earns money.”

Children Are Vulnerable to Abuse

Kamer, who warned that children are exploited through cyberbullying or cyber violence in such applications, said, “When looked at from this point, such applications can become applications used for sexuality, some violent content, and even propaganda purposes by terrorist organizations. There is a 13-year age limit in this application, but unfortunately children can join the system by increasing their age. You need to declare 18 years of age for live broadcast. Our advice to families on this issue is to enter the digital feature in the profile tab of children's accounts and apply some restrictions. At least if a filtering feature is introduced, we can protect them from certain harmful content. In addition, the profile account can be turned into a private account and the feature of following everyone can be turned off. On the other hand, messaging restrictions can also be imposed. In this way, at least our live broadcast child can be prevented from being exposed to some comments by people he does not know. In addition, the application can be used for less time with screen time management. At this point, there are restrictions of up to 2 hours.”

Children Are Dying With Challenge

Kamer, who stated that there is a trend called challenge in such applications and that children have been dying because of this in recent times, said, “When you look at TikTok, there are really many negative examples for young people. In the challenge trend, after one person does an activity, they refer to their other friend by saying, 'how much more can you do?'. One of the most common content at this point is the breath-holding challenge trend. We have been observing that many children have died because of the breath-holding challenge recently. An application for entertainment purposes can deviate from its purpose and lead to child deaths, nudity, sexuality, and falling into the trap of terrorist organizations, and other negativities. At this point, parents need to be good role models for their children.”

Delete TikTok App

Emphasizing that families should be aware of applications such as TikTok, Kamer said, “Our biggest recommendation is to delete applications such as TikTok. If it cannot be deleted, restrictions should be imposed from the profile tab. In this way, children will be prevented from falling into the network of terrorist organizations or ill-intentioned people.”

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01-01-1970 02:00:00