Hey there Inky Buds, today's topic is a pretty messed up topic. Tik Tok Trends. When you hear these words, you probably think of some teenager doing a cringeworthy dance or that weird text-to-speech voice. Well, I hate to say that these "trends" go further than that. Some of these trends are normal and funny, like throwing cheese at your dad, or using an airhorn to wake a sleeping relative, but some are really gruesome and harmful to the people doing them and are entirely brainless. An example would be the "Skull breaker challenge." With a name like that, who would want to do it? Well apparently, many people do it. It takes 3 people and the person in the middle jumps, and the two people on the sides kick the person's legs, causing them to fall backwards.
The link below shows some people doing it, even one person seeming unresponsive.
As you can see, that is an example of a trend gone wrong. Since the dawn of the internet, people have done trends/challenges. Back then, trends like "planking" were all the rage, and they were mostly harmless. Though, the first signs of dangerous challenges roughly began in 2018, when seemingly inconspicuous children's videos were tarnished with messages telling children to inflict harm on themselves or other people. It was supposedly brought upon by a user by the name of "Momo." The image was from a Japanese special effects company, who denied involvement with the threats. The sculpture was used in an art exhibit, it was given the name "mother bird." They even disposed of the sculpture in 2018 after the materials had decomposed. It was made of natural oils and wasn't meant to last. Quite unsettling!
This incident sparked fear worldwide as it made headlines everywhere. Children were committing suicide and even doing self-harm because this "creature" was telling them to, it even urged them not to tell anyone who was telling them to do these things. The actual person/people responsible weren't found, parents were urged to be careful of what your child does or watches on the internet.
The internet is a vast sea of information both good and bad. While there are many good things that could be provided because of it, it is also used for bad things like this. I must immediately say this: The internet is not safe for children!
There are more aspects as to why it is unsafe, which are mainly because of influence. Children are easily influenced and manipulated depending on how young they are. But it isn't just children, weak-willed adults could be compelled to do these things, or do harmful trends just for views or fleeting internet fame. Before putting children on the internet, or giving them phones, should explain the downsides and talk to them about influencing, and to be careful with what they watch. You may think to just let them watch YouTube Kids, but this "monster" was also found on YouTube Kids videos, which proves that they aren't always safe. There are age-restrictions on YouTube as well, but they don't always prove to be effective either. The best you can do is be aware and know what your child watches. Many parents neglect to do this because of their trust towards the internet. Some parents even use the apps themselves, and apparently find no problems with exposing their kids to it. Many don't realize the harm of exposing their child to the internet, or social media in general too early. Children who use TikTok have a "for you" page, which gives users videos related to their interests. It is exactly like the YouTube recommendations. Disturbingly, these harmful videos with these challenges reach their "for you" pages, where they will watch them and attempt the stunts.
There are more of these sick, sadistic trends than you think. Another awful challenge is the Black-out challenge. This "challenge" urges the viewer to asphyxiate themselves until they go unconscious, hence the name "Black-out." In fact, there has actually been deaths because of it. The most recent being of a 10-year-old girl named Nyla Anderson. She attempted this challenge with a strap of her mother's purse hanging from their closet. She would then go unconscious and suffer serious injuries. She then died in the hospital 5 days later. Sadly, the company that owns the platform TikTok is immune to the lawsuit made by the girl's mother. Nyla died back in 2021, but the final verdict was made recently that TikTok won the dismissal.
(The actual article will be listed in the credits at the end of this post.)
In the article it is stated that: "Jeffrey Goodman, a lawyer for the girl's mother, Tawainna Anderson, said in a statement that the family would "continue to fight to make social media safe so that no other child is killed by the reckless behavior of the social media industry."
While this seems great that someone is trying to speak out to make social media safe for children, it is a bit irrelevant. Children of below the age of 15 or even 18 shouldn't be on social media to begin with. The child I mentioned before was 10 years old, but the recommended age for any social media platform is always 13+. These apps aren't made with children in mind. Why? It is because it isn't recommended for these naive 9-year-olds and young children. According to ProtectYoungEyes.Com: "The Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA), which has been in effect since 2000, protects the private, identifying information about children under age 13. This has become the standard for social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat, require users to create a profile that includes personal, private information."
It continues with:
"Even though this act has been around for over a decade, we are shocked at how few parents enforce any kind of minimum age for when their kids open up their first social media account. Whenever we speak to children in grades 3-7 (ages 8-12), we always ask them, “how many of you have a social media account of your own right now?” And, at least half the room routinely raises hands."
The children who own these apps often have to lie about their age so that they can use them as they wish. This means that parents aren't teaching their children about the downsides of social media, and the dangers behind it. Children will often do things because it seems cool, or they saw someone like a friend use it, this goes for social media as well. Their own parents could even influence them. If their parents are constantly exploiting them for the public to see, they are probably going to get curious and download the apps themselves. A lot of people need to think about the effects before letting their children do things. Some of the things could even be life-threatening like these challenges that some malicious stranger made up to see kids and teens get hurt. I believe there needs to be more restrictions and good models with young children. The saying "Anyone can have children and call themselves a parent, but a real parent is someone who puts their child's needs above their own selfish needs or wants." applies to this issue. Some people aren't cut out to be parents and aren't responsible enough to do so or take the initiative to ensure their safety. But bad enough, many people are becoming consumed by their phones and social media that they aren't aware of the dangers. Not everyone who uses social media are bad parents though, it is just that they sometimes allow their children to use social media at a very young age. These children then grow up in a digital world to keep themselves entertained and get engulfed in the many issues and influences of the apps.
The majority of these appropriately dubbed "influencers" aren't quite good role models for young audience. They literally become famous overnight for something dumb they said, or a subpar song they made. Children are quick to mimic these people or dances for views, which also takes a psychological toll on their mental health as they get older.
My conclusion is that parents shouldn't be so quick to let their children on social media for these exact reasons I've stated before. Influence, manipulation, and death are all hand-in-hand with this new digital world. That may sound dramatic, but that's the reality of it all. The only one to put your child/relative's best interest at heart is you. The consequences of it all could be deadly.
Thank you for reading Inky Buds, I hope I have made some of you more aware of this on-going issue with our children. I hope that some of you take these words at heart and understand the reason why social media and the internet can be bad for young people. Please understand that this information not fake and I am not just an old biddy telling you that phones are evil and that the kids of today are all phone addicts. It needs to be known and much more common knowledge that social media and the internet aren't good for a child's development.
Thank you and have a good day🏙️/night🌃!
(Stay tuned for the credits/sources.)
Sources and Further Readings:
Why the heck people are doing dumb stuff to get views 😒 😑