Children and young people use many different social media apps and sites. The most popular are Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok..
There are lots of benefits to social networking. Children can stay connected to friends and family. They can also learn many different things, from make-up or gaming tutorials to making slime, or how to create their own videos.
Like most things, there can be negatives too. For children and young people there are risks that you should be aware of, to help keep your child safe on social media.
These are some of the features of different social media platforms and what they mean:
- Reel: a short video that users can create, edit and upload to share with their followers.
- Story: a way of posting photo and video content that typically vanishes after 24 hours. Stories can also be saved to a profile and viewed again.
- Snap: a picture or video which is deleted automatically once it has been viewed. It can be viewed for only a few seconds before deleting.
- DM: a direct message, which is a private message sent on social media.
What are the risks of social media for children?
Children and young people can sometimes feel pressure to share a lot of personal information online. Remind them that they shouldn’t share private things, such as:
- personal information, like names, phone numbers, links to other social media accounts or their school
- live or frequent locations
- other people's personal information
- links to join private group chats
- photos of themselves
- photos of their body, such as sexual photos or videos.
It's a good idea to explain to your child that, if someone starts asking them personal questions, or suggests that they speak on a different messaging platform, then they should come and tell you.
Many apps and games give users the option to share their location. Consider helping your children think about how and when they’re sharing this information. Some of the ways they may be likely to share location include:
- tagging photos with the geo-location
- checking into venues
- sharing journeys
- location settings on your child’s device
- sharing images or videos that contain street names.
If shared publicly, their location could be seen by someone they don’t know. People could find out where they live or go to school, allowing an accurate picture of their daily routine to be built up.
All these things increase risk to children, of cyberbullying, stalking or unwanted contact (from friends or others) or becoming a target.
Some social networking sites promote connecting users to chat with people they don’t know.
This puts young people at risk of grooming or online forms of abuse, along with the risk of moving the conversation to other platforms or meeting up offline. You should be aware of this across all social media.
Young people can feel pressured into sharing content that could be harmful to themselves or others. This could be in the form of sexting or sharing nudes, or it might be sharing memes and images of others without their consent – which can be a form of cyberbullying.
DMs (direct messages) can be used to share very quickly and they have no control over how the image is shared further.
Many platforms have features such as disappearing messages – where an image or text will only show for a certain amount of time for the recipient before deleting. This might make users feel they can share more, but the recipient can still screenshot and forward the content to others.
With so many influencers and users sharing photos, children can feel under pressure to conform to the ‘ideal’ body and lifestyle. It’s important to talk about positive body image with them. It can be helpful to encourage children to question what they see online and understand that what others post is a curated version of their life.
Children may become focused on how many likes or comments their posts attract. This can leave them feeling that they aren’t good enough, or not as popular as someone else.
Try to help them remember that likes aren’t everything. Instagram has an option to turn off likes on posts – that may help to ease the pressure.
Mental health and social media
Young people have different reasons for wanting to talk to others online about the issues they're experiencing.
Some may find it easier talking online than offline, including to people they’ve not met in person.
For other children, going online is a way of finding other young people who are going through the same things as them.
It's a good idea to support children to think about who they’re talking to and if it’s helping them to feel better. Ask them to think about whether talking to other young people online:
- gives them hope that they'll feel better, and that things will improve? Or do they come away thinking that their situation will never change?
- encourages them to talk to other people offline about how they're feeling, or whether it discourages them from doing this?
- usually makes them feel better afterwards, or usually makes them feel worse?
Just as in the offline world, bullying can happen online on social networking sites too. Watch out for the signs and make sure that they know what to do if it happens to them.
Childline has lots of information about feeling good on social media that might be useful for your child to look at.
Tips to help children stay safe on social media
Location settings
It can be helpful to remind children that they shouldn't share location information:
- on their posts
- on public forums and chats
- on videos
- with people they don't know.
Consider reviewing the location settings on their favourite app or game and talk to them about what they’re sharing online.
It might be appropriate for your child to share their location with a trusted adult or friend. For example, if they’re travelling home alone or arranging to meet a group of friends outside school, then it can be a good way to help keep them safe.
Remember that if children share their location publicly, it could be seen by someone they don’t know.
This can increase the risk of cyberbullying, stalking or unwanted contact (from friends or others) or becoming a target.
Safety and privacy settings
Exploring the safety and privacy settings on apps will help you decide which are right for your child to use.
Each app has slightly different ways to set up an account, but most have the option to:
- set an account to private
- not allow friend requests
- hide the user’s location.
Explain these settings to your child and the reasons for having them in place.
Age ratings and features
Each app your child uses will have an age rating and it's useful to know what these are. Many have a minimum age of 13 years, but you should check the age rating of individual apps to make sure – see our list below.
You know your child best, and you might decide that they need to be a little bit older before they can use certain apps.
Need advice about online safety?
If you’re stuck, not sure what to do, or if you’re worried about your child, you can also contact our trained helpline counsellors on 0808 800 5000.
Childline also has lots of information about online and mobile safety that will help you and your child.
You can help us to support more families.
Social media apps: features, age ratings, risks and tips
Facebook
Age rating: 13+
Main features: newsfeed to share text, photos & videos, instant messaging, marketplace, friends, likes and comments.
Instagram
Age rating: 13+
Main features: photo & video sharing, livestreaming, stories, DMs, hashtags.
Snapchat
Snapchat is a popular messaging app that allows you to send images and videos to other users. These are known as ‘Snaps’. One of Snapchat’s unique selling points is that messages are normally only available for a short period of time and can only be viewed once.
How does Snapchat work?
The platform mainly operates as a messaging app where users can communicate with each other using videos and images. However, there are also other features available including private chat, games, and voice notes. You can also create short videos that can be posted to a public feed.
What’s the minimum age to use Snapchat?
In the UK, children should be at least 13 to have an account.
Is Snapchat safe for children? Risks, safeguards and tips
There are some potential risks for young people.
1) Viewing inappropriate or harmful content
They could be at risk of seeing upsetting images or video. Snapchat’s safety features and enhanced protection for teenagers can help users limit who can see their account and contact them.
2) Location sharing
Snapchat Map shares users’ locations with other users on the app. Snapchat turns off location setting by default for teens. If young people turn it on, they can only share their location with friends on the app.
3) Unwanted contact
It’s possible for young people to be contacted on the app by people they don’t know or don’t want to be friends with on the app. Snapchat says it’s difficult for people who don’t know your teenager to get in contact with them. It’s also possible for users to block individual people.
4) Pressure to share and chat
Snapchat messages normally disappear after a short period of time once opened. This could put a child more at risk of sharing something that makes them feel uncomfortable or could harm or upset someone else.
It’s important to remember that, even though messages disappear the recipient could take a screenshot of images, videos, and messages and keep them or share with other people. So it’s important for young people to be as careful with what they share as they would be on other apps.
With streaks, there is a pressure to keep using the app and to achieve a high ‘streak score’. You could have a conversation with your child about online wellbeing to ensure they are not putting too much emphasis on using social media or feeling pressured by it. You could also take the online safety quiz with them for tips and ideas.
Snapchat’s safety guide
Read the latest information about the app and get privacy and safety tips at the Snapchat Family Safety Hub.
TikTok
TikTok is a video-sharing platform where you can watch and create videos, and livestream.
Users can browse different videos on TikTok via a personalised feed known as the ‘For You Page’. You can also search for content using topics or hashtags.
There are lots of different video types and topics including dancing or lip-synching, clips from TV shows or films, comedy sketches, fitness and recipes.
How does TikTok work?
The platform uses algorithms to show users different video content based on their interests and other videos they watch. This means that the ‘For You Page’ is different for everyone.
Platforms such as TikTok tests out different types of content with similar themes to see how we interact, so it knows what to show us in the future.
What’s the minimum age to use TikTok?
In the UK, children should be at least 13 to have an account.
Is TikTok safe for children? Risks, safeguards and tips
TikTok can be a creative outlet for young people as it allows them to learn about video editing and discover new interests.
There are some potential risks for young people.
1) Viewing inappropriate or harmful content
They could be at risk of seeing upsetting images or video. To lessen the chance of this happening, they can select restricted mode to limit exposure to mature and complex content. This is also available through the Family Pairing tool, if you think it would be more effective to set it up yourself.
2) Unwanted contact or comments
TikTok users can message one another directly. Accounts set up by 13 to 16-year-olds are set to private by default, which means your teenager can approve who can follow them and view their content. The Family Pairing function allows you to view your teenager’s account to check it’s private. You can also decide who can like and who can comment on your child’s content.
3) Too much time online
Any social media app can encourage young people to spend more time online. You could have a conversation with your child about online wellbeing to ensure they are not putting too much emphasis on social media or feeling pressured by it. You could also take our online safety quiz with them for tips and ideas.
TikTok’s safety guide
Read the latest information about the app and get privacy and safety tips in TikTok’s Guardian’s Guide.
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Age rating: 13+
Main features: tweets (text with restricted character count), photo and video sharing, hashtags.