Young people spend more and more hours in front of a screen, after more than two years of pandemic and lockdown, with many parents worried, as their children spend endless hours glued to their mobile phones, computers and tablets, playing, studying , or spending time on social media.

In an effort to assuage criticism, social media platform TikTok, the popular video creation and posting platform, has introduced a new feature to limit the amount of time children spend on the app. In particular, it recently announced that it is limiting the time spent on the application to 60 minutes per day for users under the age of 18, in an effort to make the time spent in front of the screen noticeable, understandable and above all more conscious from young people. Anyone under 18 will receive a notification detailing their ‘screen time’. That is, if the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a password to continue watching, meaning they will be asked to make an active decision to extend that time. Experts believe that the new regulation is in a positive direction but cannot solve the problem of the safety of minors. TikTok is under fire for its highly addictive algorithm. Child psychologists and activists have recently likened the platform to addictive substances. Speaking to APE-MPE, Dr Veronica Samara, International Digital Literacy and Internet Safety Advisor and coordinator of the Saferinternet.gr Action, emphasizes that the safety of minors should not depend only on the regulations set by the platforms, but should be a consequence of the development of personal responsibility and critical thinking from a long time ago young age.

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. China has its own distinct version of TikTok called Douyin, and it offers a very different experience than what’s available in the West for kids. For example, it is limited to 40 minutes of daily use for children under 14 and is not accessible between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am. For many, this should send a warning signal to lawmakers in the West, who argue that Tik Tok’s algorithms can harm children.

The role of parents who often do not have the familiarity that their children have with the internet is critical. A parent would not let their child walk down the street without some sense of guidance. The same is true with social media. They need guidance.

“How can any regulations be satisfactory when a user can give any date of birth they want on social media platforms and create an account as an adult? Simply, we need to teach our children to respect their obligations on the internet, and which ensure their rights while keeping them away from potential dangers”, emphasizes Mrs. Samara speaking to APE-MPE and adds: “Based on the General Regulation for Data Protection – GDPR, minors under the age of 15 in Greece are prohibited from using any social networking platform, unless they have received parental consent. Furthermore, no platform can be 100% safe, not even for adult users, if the now well-known basic rules of internet safety are not followed by themselves.”

Apart from watch time, there are other problem areas in the use of social media especially by children.

“I don’t like to talk about risks, but about issues on the internet. And the most important of these are protecting privacy, ours and others, developing empathy, so that before we post anything on the internet we think about whether such a post could hurt someone else, as well as knowing the real meaning of the word “friend”, to avoid connections with strangers on the Internet and therefore, possible bad consequences. Furthermore, parents should empower children to maintain a healthy balance of time spent on interpersonal, physical, and online activities, and encourage them to pursue their hobbies and talents. As I already mentioned above, developing critical thinking from a very young age is also key to being able to distinguish truth from lies on the internet. Finally, it is important to build our children’s self-esteem, and help them develop resilience, so that they don’t look for ways to be liked by others through the internet”, explains Mrs. Samara and concludes: “Social media is an integral part of the daily life of teenagers, and not only. It is now a big part of the internet, it is one of its many tools, I would say, and which is widely used, even by businesses for our daily transactions with them. Therefore, like any tool, if we use it correctly, responsibly and – why not? – creatively, then everything will be fine.”

Ultimately, social media platforms like TikTok face the critical existential question of whether to take measures “at the expense” of their own success in order to keep children safe.