Raising teenagers in the digital age can be daunting. After all, most of us grew up without cell phones or social media (personally, I’m old enough to remember the excitement of dial-up in middle school), so that means we’re the first generation Who Must Monitor Our Children’s Online Lives No Examples to look to. We’re navigating uncharted territory, finding a balance between starting to allow our teens access to the same apps we scroll through every day, like TikTok, with a strong desire to protect their privacy and teach them how to stay safe online.
Although the average age of TikTok users in the United States is over 30, the company recognizes that special safeguards are needed to protect teenagers. Luckily for us, they offer a comprehensive set of tools to help parents tackle this problem effectively—starting with their easy-to-understand and thoughtful Guardian Guide.
There’s never been a better time to start a conversation about digital security because back-to-school season can be a social minefield, not to mention a social media minefield. Keep scrolling to learn about four key TikTok tools that will help your kids enjoy the creativity and fun of the app while ensuring their experience is safe and age-appropriate.
Default Teen settings for 13+
First, your child must You have to be 13 or older to access the full TikTok experience, so if your child sets up their own account, make sure they enter their true year of birth. TikTok’s proactive protections for teen account holders include daily screen time limits, banning DMs (or even no Options Let your kids open private messages when they are under 16 — Hallelujah! ) and lock their profile to the private default setting.
Anyone under the age of 16 who creates video content on TikTok is not eligible to have their videos featured in the “For You” feed. The absolute best part of this set of features? These settings are automatically turned on when you create a teen account, so you don’t have to worry about activating protections.
Keyword filters protect their feeds
The “For You” feed is a core part of the TikTok experience. The recommendation system decides which videos to show you based on a variety of factors, including videos you like or share, accounts you follow, comments you post, and content you create.
When a teen sets up an account, any TikTok videos (including ads) with overly mature themes or language will be filtered out – you can find a list of restricted content types in TikTok’s Community Guidelines. Parents can also create custom filters to ensure their kids only see what you (or they!) want to see. For example, a teen struggling with self-esteem might benefit from watching fewer beauty tutorials, or a budding vegetarian might want to avoid watching recipe videos involving meat. Just enter keywords or hashtags that your kids don’t want popping up in their FYF and TikTok will take care of it. sigh. It would be great if we had this function in real life…
Full comment privacy (no trolls allowed)
For those under 16, TikTok automatically limits comments to friends only, meaning only Followers approved by your child can comment on any video they share or create. This protects teens from one of the most notorious forms of online stranger danger: trolls. Teen account holders can also change their comment privacy to “No one” if they don’t want to allow comments of any kind.
Before your child starts any creating or scrolling, it’s worth reviewing TikTok’s Community Guidelines with your child so that you both understand the app’s policies around content moderation, safety, and civility.
Household pairing to link your accounts
TikTok’s family matching tool is a great option for teens who may need a little more support as they find their place in the world of social media. This feature allows parents to link their TikTok account to their child’s account, effectively giving you administrative access to their account settings. Parents can set daily screen time limits for teens on TikTok, create content filters, control privacy settings for comments, and more.
Of course, since teenagers crave independence and are known to hate wandering, it’s crucial to have an open conversation about whether you or other parents will monitor their accounts directly.
