by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th
Most parents of adolescents hear the words Tik Tok and think of short dance videos performed by kids and adults, celebrities and family members. During the months of home isolation, Tik Tok served as a pastime for many families as they learned fun choreography together.
Since it’s rise to popularity, of course, other content has found its way onto Tik Tok. Comedy and meme videos are being posted, political messages are being shared, and even schools are tapping into the popularity to post school safety measures in hopes their students will view them.
Tik Tok has found its way into the news with questions of data mining and violations of privacy.
So what should educators and parents know about Tik Tok?
Firstly, like most social media platforms, Tik Tok is collecting data on its users. From EdWeek magazine:
“Like many other social-media platforms, TikTok collects gobs of information from users, including the contents of their private messages, what type of device they’re using, their internet protocol (IP) addresses, and all manner of information on what types of videos they watch and how they watch them. Under its loosest settings, TikTok can also collect from users’ age, phone number, precise geolocation data, and more.”
This is of particular concern to many parents and educators because of their targeted audience of tweens and teenagers. Many parents with older children may remember the site, Musical.ly, became a site of negative commenting and frequent issues of cyberbullying. This was Tik Tok’s predecessor app.
Tik Tok is now under the same scrutiny regarding their parent consent measures and whether they are protecting younger users of the app.
Of particular concern, is the growing range of content finding its way onto Tik Tok. This past week, news agencies reported that a gruesome video of a man’s suicide was posted on Tik Tok and the company scrambled to remove it even as it spread virally. Of course, this type of content is incredibly worrisome and we want to be sure parents are talking to their children about what they view online (in all Apps) and what they might do if they encounter disturbing content unintentionally.
This post is not meant to vilify Tik Tok alone. However it is a cautionary tale for parents to be aware of what apps their children are using, what content they may be seeing, and most importantly, what conversations we all need to be having with our young people.
