Tiktok Warning to Families, Delete the Application!

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

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

Reminding that TikTok is a platform for entertainment purposes, 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 behavior to earn money during live broadcasts, Kamer said, “The application currently has 689 million users. So it has a very significant market. “In order to make money during live broadcasts, national and moral values ​​can be trampled on.” he said.

Stating that the tokens loaded into the account on TikTok can be transferred as money to people who broadcast live, Kamer said, “There is a token application in the application. You can load between 100 and 10 thousand coins into your account. You can send these virtual gifts to the person whose live broadcast you watch. These gifts can be kisses, roses, rain of money, evil eye beads, yachts and cars. These also have a fee. In return, the person broadcasting live earns money.” he said.

Children Become Vulnerable to Abuse

Warning that children are exploited by cyber bullying or cyber violence in such applications, Kamer said, “From this point of view, such applications can become sexual, some violent content, or even an application used by terrorist organizations for propaganda purposes. There is an age limit of 13 in this application, but unfortunately children can join the system by increasing their age. You must be 18 years of age for live broadcast. Our advice to families in this regard is to enter the digital feature in the profile tab of their children's accounts and impose some restrictions. At least if the filtering feature is introduced, we can protect it from certain harmful content. Additionally, the ability to follow everyone can be turned off by turning the profile account into a private account. On the other hand, messaging restrictions may also be imposed. Thus, at least the live broadcast can prevent our child from being exposed to some comments by people he does not know. In addition, screen time management can ensure that the application is used for less time. “At this point, there are restrictions for up to 2 hours.” he said.

Children Are Dying Due to Challenge

Stating that there is a trend called challenge in such applications and that children have recently died for this reason, Kamer said, “When we look at TikTok, there are a lot of contents that can really set negative examples for young people. In the challenge movement, a person refers to another friend by saying “how much more can you do?” after completing an activity. At this point, one of the most common contents is the movement called breath holding challenge. Recently, we have observed that many children have died due to breath-holding challenge. By deviating from the purpose of an entertainment application, it can lead to some negativities such as child deaths, nudity, sexuality, and falling into the network of terrorist organizations. “At this point, parents need to be good role models for their children.” he said.

Delete TikTok App

Emphasizing that families should be conscious about applications such as TikTok, Kamer said, “Our biggest advice is to delete applications such as TikTok. If it cannot be deleted, impose restrictions from the profile tab. “In this way, children will be prevented from falling into the networks of terrorist organizations or people with malicious intentions.”