As our current generation of youth become increasingly exposed to the dark side of social media, parents must be more vigilant with their children's media consumption. TikTok, a social video app, has become the worst nightmare of a parent due to its content glorifying violence, sex and alcohol abuse. This platform has also been used by sad and lonely teens to describe their depression, eating disorders, suicide and anxiety. Trans content is also fuelling this platform, with doctors hawking gender surgery. For young boys, there is a plethora of videos that lighten violence towards women, produce rape humor and racial hatred.
Legislative proposals have been proposed to regulate children's social media use, similar to China's 40 minutes per day limit and Night-Block for under-14s. However, many younger children have access to the app, either on their parents’ phones or on their own, and often don't even know where the memes they spread come from. Experts emphasize the importance of parents being aware of the media that their kids consume, as there have been reports of TikTok challenges that involve pranks that end up destroying school property.
The debate over the potential ban of TikTok in the United States has been growing in the United States due to its strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Critics of the ban argue that it would violate the First Amendment, while the former CIA Officer Klon Kitchen argued that TikTok's network is effectively a surveillance network. Joel Thayer compared it to the ban of Chinese telecommunications equipment made by Huawei and ZTE by the FCC. AI training also requires lots of data, which China could use to train its own AI, including in the development of facial recognition technology that could be used to monitor Uyghur concentration camps.
A survey found that more than half of Gen Zers spend four or more hours on social media daily, and the most popular trends are “Oh no, our table is broken!,” “Oh no, oh no, oh no, no no no!” and “emotional damage!” FBI Director Chris Wray emphasized national security fears over TikTok and China's power over the recommendation algorithm of the app, as the Chinese version of TikTok offers children at-home science experiments, museum exhibits, patriotism videos and educational videos while limiting use to 40 minutes a day. Parents need to keep an eye on what their kids are watching, talk to them and take them out to the park, a ball game or a museum. A whole generation could be lost if there was no such thing.