Should kids be on TikTok? I’m sure that’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves as we saw mass amounts of ten year olds tearing apart Sephora’s Drunk Elephant and Rare Beauty testers and displays under the influence of their favorite TikTok makeup and GRWM (Get Ready With Me) creators and the enablement of their parents. TikTok has caused a huge issue with children trying to grow up too fast. By the age of ten, they are purchasing makeup and skincare products—products they do not need, products that can actually have negative effects on their skin—and some of them even post their own makeup content on TikTok. What’s even more concerning is that many TikTok parents are taking their children—sometimes even younger than ten—to Sephora and buying them expensive makeup. Some children are even bullied for not wearing makeup or for not having a brand new Stanley, in elementary school. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 

What’s even worse is the impacts TikTok has on a child’s developing brain. Children are handed iPads instead of toys. Children as old as ONE are being given iPads for Christmas. They stay in their room instead of going outside to play. With all this time inside they spend hours scrolling through videos on TikTok. The constant short-form videos DESTROY children’s attention spans and ability to sit still and actually learn. Teachers have been coming out saying that gen alpha is impossible to teach, and that children in 7th grade are performing at a 2nd-4th grade level. These children can’t read, write, decode, or comprehend information. They have no vocabulary, no background knowledge, and they can’t sit still. One teacher stated that her 5th graders with significant language based learning disabilities can write better than her non disabled 7th graders. These children don’t even know what state they live in, what region of the country they live in, and many don’t even know who the president is. The same teacher also said that 7th graders can’t take notes, or even attend to a 3 minute video. She could play the video, tell them what happened in the video, summarize the video, and not a SINGLE student could tell her what the video was about. Another 7th grade teacher said that he can’t give grade level work, and is having to simplify the curriculum to teach students the fundamentals they are already SUPPOSED to know JUST so they can teach them the things they SHOULD be learning at their grade level. A teacher teaching 7th graders at an affluent school in Southern Houston says that his students have asked him how to spell words as simple as “window”, “important” and “though.” He also said that his students read a 4 paragraph story and couldn’t name the main character once they finished. Finished a FOUR PARAGRAPH STORY. On top of that, students are increasingly rude and disruptive. Teachers can’t handle these children, they refuse to listen and parents refuse to help or acknowledge the issues of their children’s behavior. Additionally, ADHD is on a significant upward trajectory. When compared to the 2010 statistic of  0.19% of the population, the rate at which ADHD is diagnosed has TRIPLED to 0.57% as of 2022. 

We always jump to children being annoying or disruptive. But we often overlook another very important aspect, is TikTok safe for children? As of now, the TikTok age limit is 12+, but the app has no features to verify that the people downloading the app are really over the age of twelve. With countless people across various social media platforms being outed as groomers every year, the internet becomes an increasingly unsafe space for children. What’s even more disturbing is that creators targeted TOWARDS children make up a significant amount of the very people who are exposed as pedophiles. We’ve all seen the Colleen Balinger allegations (and unfortunately the “apology” video), a figure who was targeted towards children grooming them and sending them disgusting things through DMs. She’s just one of the MANY creators who makes content for minors who was exposed as a pedophile and a creep. And it’s not just creators abusing their power who groom children, other adults message minors pretending to be children, and ask them to do explicit things every day. Most of these children don’t even know what these things mean, or if they do, are too scared to say anything. In 2022, Robert Moors, a thirty-six year old man posed as a twelve year old boy on TikTok. He messaged an eight year old girl asking what underwear she was wearing, as well as asking her to perform sexual acts. He messaged a second girl, who was ten, suggesting she remove her underwear. The second girl told her father and showed him her messages with Moors. Moors was arrested two days later, and police found 95 child sexual abuse videos on his phone. The children in these videos were all aged between six and eleven. Detective Constable Samatha Bonner of Thames Valley Police’s Banbury CID claims that the messages and videos on Moors phone were the worst they had ever seen in 18 years of service. Unfortunately, many children do not come forward about these things, and Moors was just one of many disgusting people using TikTok to engage with minors. A very disturbing fact overlooked by many is that pedophiles can see any videos posted with children in them. With videos out there, what they do with them is beyond anyone’s control, and they can do whatever they want with those videos.

Overall, with all the risks associated, I don’t think children should be on TikTok. TikTok should also increase safety measures and age verification on their platform. TikTok isn’t only to blame, parents should also be more careful about what they’re allowing their children to be exposed to, and should find other alternatives to keeping their children entertained. It may be easy to shove an iPad in a toddler’s face to shut them up, but parents need to seriously consider just how negative the effects can be in the long term.