Support Teens on Their Digital Journey
Author(s): Tracy Elizabeth
May 1, 2022
As a mother, educator and researcher, I care deeply about how young people interact with technology and media. While it’s unsurprising to learn that teens experienced significant mental health challenges during the pandemic, a recent CDC study found that high school students who reported feeling connected to others virtually were less likely to report poor mental health. Platforms such as TikTok have an opportunity to play a positive role in people’s lives. This can only be made better through partnering with parents, educators and safety advocates to design safe and welcoming spaces that support teens throughout their development.
When I started my career as an elementary school teacher, I remember how much we relied on family engagement and support, as well as the advice and guidance from school counselors, to best attend to students’ social/emotional needs. Today, the same is true for social media and video platforms. At TikTok, I have the opportunity to apply my passion and understanding of adolescent development and child safety to build a product that honors the lived experiences of teens. This feels especially important today as we learn more about the long-term impact of the pandemic on teens’ well-being and the role technology can play in keeping people connected.
At TikTok, we recognize the vital role parents/guardians, educators, school counselors and other trusted adults play in supporting all facets of teens’ development. Our hope is that we can provide those caregivers resources and tools that empower them to feel equipped to take an active role in their teens’ digital journey.
First and foremost, we understand it can feel daunting for parents/guardians to keep up with evolving technology trends or new platforms, let alone navigate conversations around digital responsibility. However, according to a 2021 Family Online Safety Institute report, Gen Z and parents alike agree that parents are by far the top resource to help them learn about online safety.
TikTok supports parents/guardians in these critical moments by recommending ways they can approach digital literacy and safety conversations with their children. We partnered with experts at Internet Matters to facilitate conversations with hundreds of teens and caregivers from various backgrounds and countries to develop these insights. Although it doesn’t hurt to know the latest dance routine or pop culture reference, teens told Internet Matters that they need help with the basics – like knowing a parent/guardian is available to talk to them about their digital life to begin with and will help them understand the rules of a platform. Check out the Guardian’s Guide for help with these ongoing conversations about TikTok.
Second, we must recognize that every teen and family is unique, which is why we provide easy-to-use tools that allow parents/guardians to customize experiences in ways that are most comfortable for their individual family. The Family Online Safety Institute report also shows the majority of parents wish they had more control to set content and screen-time restrictions on their teen’s device. TikTok’s Family Pairing features empower parents/guardians to do exactly that by enabling them to link their TikTok account to their child’s account to manage a variety of content and privacy settings, such as setting screen-time limits or disabling direct messages. The Guardian’s Guide encourages families to discuss these features with their teens and explain why they choose to turn them on. Families can also learn more about the default safety settings for teens, like making accounts belonging to 13–15 year olds private by default, in the TikTok Guide for Parents, developed in partnership with National PTA.
Lastly, we must leverage the insights of experts, parents/guardians and teens themselves to address difficult topics head-on. To that end, last year we launched a global project to better understand young people’s engagement with potentially harmful challenges and hoaxes. While not unique to any one platform, the effects and concerns are felt by all, and we wanted to learn how we might develop even more effective responses as we work to better support teens, parents/guardians and educators.
Two things stood out in the Family Online Safety Institute report. The first is that young people want help understanding how far is too far. Although just 0.3% of teens said they had taken part in an online challenge they viewed as very dangerous, teens want clear signposts for when behavior goes beyond safe boundaries, and they want more support from trusted adults in their lives.
The second thing the research illustrated is that caregivers aren’t sure how to talk to teens about self-harm hoaxes, which attempt to make people believe something frightening that isn’t true. They worry that if they mention the name of the hoax, their teens could become curious about potentially harmful behavior they didn’t know about previously. More than half of parents/guardians said they wouldn’t mention a self-harm hoax unless a teen had mentioned it first, and more than a third felt hoaxes are difficult to talk about without prompting interest in them.
We understand assessing online challenges and hoax warnings can be difficult, so we partnered with youth safety experts, an adolescent development doctor and a behavioral scientist specializing in risk prevention in adolescence to develop an easy guide for teens and adults to use if they come across something potentially harmful online. For teens, it sets out four simple steps to help them assess risk. First, stop: pause for a moment. Second, think: the guide provides a series of questions, such as, “Is it safe?” and “Is it real?” to encourage critical thinking. Third, decide: if it’s risky or harmful, or you’re not sure if it is, don’t do it. Fourth, then, and only then, act. In addition to this guide, we recently improved the language used in our warning labels that appear alongside videos showing risky stunts performed by professionals to provide additional context to potentially risky content that doesn’t violate TikTok’s community guidelines.
For caregivers and educators, we offer tips on how to approach this difficult subject with teens. Most teens have seen online challenges and many have taken part, so telling them all challenges are dangerous won’t ring true. Instead, let them know you understand they may be curious about online challenges, and you’re open to talking, listening and learning with them. In addition to our family guide, we joined forces with National PTA on a Create with Kindness program, which includes a toolkit for educators to host guided discussions with teens and parents about what TikTok is; the tools and resources available to them; and how they can create healthy online experiences, behaviors and expectations.
Now more than ever, collaboration between trusted adults and tech platforms is necessary to help teens adapt and thrive in our ever-evolving world. From the dining table to the classroom, TikTok is committed to working alongside parents/guardians and educators to empower the next generation of internet users.
Tracy Elizabeth, Ed.D., is TikTok head of issue policy, trust & safety. In this role, she oversees minor safety, integrity & authenticity, harassment & bullying, content classification and applied research teams, as well as TikTok’s policies designed to keep youth safe and catalogue content based on age-appropriateness.
When I started my career as an elementary school teacher, I remember how much we relied on family engagement and support, as well as the advice and guidance from school counselors, to best attend to students’ social/emotional needs. Today, the same is true for social media and video platforms. At TikTok, I have the opportunity to apply my passion and understanding of adolescent development and child safety to build a product that honors the lived experiences of teens. This feels especially important today as we learn more about the long-term impact of the pandemic on teens’ well-being and the role technology can play in keeping people connected.
At TikTok, we recognize the vital role parents/guardians, educators, school counselors and other trusted adults play in supporting all facets of teens’ development. Our hope is that we can provide those caregivers resources and tools that empower them to feel equipped to take an active role in their teens’ digital journey.
First and foremost, we understand it can feel daunting for parents/guardians to keep up with evolving technology trends or new platforms, let alone navigate conversations around digital responsibility. However, according to a 2021 Family Online Safety Institute report, Gen Z and parents alike agree that parents are by far the top resource to help them learn about online safety.
TikTok supports parents/guardians in these critical moments by recommending ways they can approach digital literacy and safety conversations with their children. We partnered with experts at Internet Matters to facilitate conversations with hundreds of teens and caregivers from various backgrounds and countries to develop these insights. Although it doesn’t hurt to know the latest dance routine or pop culture reference, teens told Internet Matters that they need help with the basics – like knowing a parent/guardian is available to talk to them about their digital life to begin with and will help them understand the rules of a platform. Check out the Guardian’s Guide for help with these ongoing conversations about TikTok.
Second, we must recognize that every teen and family is unique, which is why we provide easy-to-use tools that allow parents/guardians to customize experiences in ways that are most comfortable for their individual family. The Family Online Safety Institute report also shows the majority of parents wish they had more control to set content and screen-time restrictions on their teen’s device. TikTok’s Family Pairing features empower parents/guardians to do exactly that by enabling them to link their TikTok account to their child’s account to manage a variety of content and privacy settings, such as setting screen-time limits or disabling direct messages. The Guardian’s Guide encourages families to discuss these features with their teens and explain why they choose to turn them on. Families can also learn more about the default safety settings for teens, like making accounts belonging to 13–15 year olds private by default, in the TikTok Guide for Parents, developed in partnership with National PTA.
Lastly, we must leverage the insights of experts, parents/guardians and teens themselves to address difficult topics head-on. To that end, last year we launched a global project to better understand young people’s engagement with potentially harmful challenges and hoaxes. While not unique to any one platform, the effects and concerns are felt by all, and we wanted to learn how we might develop even more effective responses as we work to better support teens, parents/guardians and educators.
Two things stood out in the Family Online Safety Institute report. The first is that young people want help understanding how far is too far. Although just 0.3% of teens said they had taken part in an online challenge they viewed as very dangerous, teens want clear signposts for when behavior goes beyond safe boundaries, and they want more support from trusted adults in their lives.
The second thing the research illustrated is that caregivers aren’t sure how to talk to teens about self-harm hoaxes, which attempt to make people believe something frightening that isn’t true. They worry that if they mention the name of the hoax, their teens could become curious about potentially harmful behavior they didn’t know about previously. More than half of parents/guardians said they wouldn’t mention a self-harm hoax unless a teen had mentioned it first, and more than a third felt hoaxes are difficult to talk about without prompting interest in them.
We understand assessing online challenges and hoax warnings can be difficult, so we partnered with youth safety experts, an adolescent development doctor and a behavioral scientist specializing in risk prevention in adolescence to develop an easy guide for teens and adults to use if they come across something potentially harmful online. For teens, it sets out four simple steps to help them assess risk. First, stop: pause for a moment. Second, think: the guide provides a series of questions, such as, “Is it safe?” and “Is it real?” to encourage critical thinking. Third, decide: if it’s risky or harmful, or you’re not sure if it is, don’t do it. Fourth, then, and only then, act. In addition to this guide, we recently improved the language used in our warning labels that appear alongside videos showing risky stunts performed by professionals to provide additional context to potentially risky content that doesn’t violate TikTok’s community guidelines.
For caregivers and educators, we offer tips on how to approach this difficult subject with teens. Most teens have seen online challenges and many have taken part, so telling them all challenges are dangerous won’t ring true. Instead, let them know you understand they may be curious about online challenges, and you’re open to talking, listening and learning with them. In addition to our family guide, we joined forces with National PTA on a Create with Kindness program, which includes a toolkit for educators to host guided discussions with teens and parents about what TikTok is; the tools and resources available to them; and how they can create healthy online experiences, behaviors and expectations.
Now more than ever, collaboration between trusted adults and tech platforms is necessary to help teens adapt and thrive in our ever-evolving world. From the dining table to the classroom, TikTok is committed to working alongside parents/guardians and educators to empower the next generation of internet users.
Tracy Elizabeth, Ed.D., is TikTok head of issue policy, trust & safety. In this role, she oversees minor safety, integrity & authenticity, harassment & bullying, content classification and applied research teams, as well as TikTok’s policies designed to keep youth safe and catalogue content based on age-appropriateness.