ARWe’ve all had to update a device or an app at some stage in our lives and no doubt it’s exciting to see what new features have been added to make our experience better. With online safety, things can often change at such a fast pace, that updates can sometimes come thick and fast. As with our technology though, the updates are there to improve the experience and build on what is already established.
TikTok Family Pairing Feature
Last year, Internet Matters joined forces with TikTok and created the ‘Family Pairing’ feature. This setup allowed family members to link their TikTok accounts with their children’s to manage certain privacy settings and parental controls. Although it allows children and young people to experience the app, it provides certain restrictions towards how they search for content and how they interact with others. To find out more about this feature, take a look at our blog.
Now, Internet Matters have worked again with TikTok, as well as young people to expand the feature to include new educational resources for parents. It was found that although children and young people were using apps with parental controls setup, there was very little awareness from parents around how they should appropriately involve themselves in their digital lives.
Now, young people have spoken up and worked with Internet Matters and TikTok to create brand new resources around the social media app. This new guidance gives information on how teenagers use the app, as well as suggestions for how parents should support and involve themselves in their social media lives.
Educational Resources for Parents
If a parent has setup the Family Pairing feature, they will now receive supporting resources around digital parenting. These are presented as tips which parents are notified about when using the app. They include a list of suggestions that open up conversations around safer internet use, whilst highlighting important factors such as trust and respect towards their children’s privacy.
They also present how young people want to fully understand the rules around their social media use as well as feel they can approach a parent if something goes wrong. As part of this, it highlights the importance of parents not panicking when issues arise and always being available to talk.
As a whole, these new resources are there to strengthen the awareness of online safety within the household. As parents become more informed around what their children want from them, it can open up valuable discussions around how family members can support and respect each other around social media use. As we’ve said before, features such as parental controls and family pairing can help with setting boundaries but opening up conversations can have a much better impact.
If you want to learn more about TikTok’s privacy features, why not download our checklist for free?
