Less beauty filters (forbidden to minors) more age checks of members and a monitoring and prevention plan of contents that talk about suicide. TikTok is ahead of the game and announces changes they want protect its most vulnerable usersbut more numerous: teenagers.
Can TikTok cause addiction?
“Many kids talk about it in sessions difficulty disconnecting from social media – explains the psychologist and psychotherapist Erika Debelli a FQMagazine – and detaching is actually difficult: it develops a sort of addiction from social media which has its biological bases inincreased dopamine release in the brain for immediate gratifications, such as the recognition obtained through likes and the satisfaction of the need for identity belonging typical of adolescence”.
L’algorithm on TikTokFurthermore, it hits the mark precisely, offering videos that are always in line with the interests of the viewer. And, ultimately, pushing us to keep watching. With dangerous consequences, such asalteration of sleep-wake rhythms for the habit of shaking until late at night. A habit which, among other things, does not only affect teenagers, on the contrary. Furthermore, Dr. Debelli underlines, research is investigating the link between attention deficit disorders e the use of social.
More checks on user age
For several months now there has been discussion about the safety of users of TikTok: the Chinese app has raised many doubts on the security front, both in terms of personal data and for the mechanisms of the app and the repercussions on the mental health of adolescents. Chloe Setter, responsible of public policies on TikTok child safetyannounced the changes coming in the next few weeks. First, the platform wants to guarantee that all members have theage required to do so, i.e. 13 years: the objective is to promptly recognize and block those who have less.
TikTok's crackdown on beauty filters
Then there is the thorny question of aesthetic standards promoted by the app, and by social networks in general. There question of filters is not new, but thanks to artificial intelligence they are becoming less and less recognisable e artifacts, ever more precise in imperceptibly changing our characteristics (such as the controversial Bold Glamour) making us perceive a distance between how we really are and how we see ourselves on the app.
A dangerous hiatus, especially at an age when the body changes rapidly and It's not always easy to look at yourself in the mirror. “There may also be an increase in anxious or depressive symptoms in adolescents – confirms the psychotherapist – and in the difficulty in build a full and authentic self-image in a virtual world dominated by the constant search for consensus, in which the proposed models are often distant from reality and difficult reachable, modified, filtered, exaggerated”.
Also for this reason, TikTok will make it impossible to use beauty filters to those under 18, together with other measures aimed at protecting the psychological well-being of users. And, at the same time, to prevent many e sanctions for the violation of safety regulations online, especially in Europe. “If we delegate the defense of adolescents' mental health to a social network, perhaps we should ask ourselves where the adults have gone,” comments Dr. Debelli.
The role of parents and the importance of example
Per i parentsHowever, it is not always easy to explain the dangers of social networks to your children. And drastic measures, like ban smartphonethey can be revealed counterproductive: “The solution cannot be to ask not to use social media – explains the expert – a generation that has always been connected cannot suddenly go back. However, parents can explain how to use social media safely through the exampleinitially using them together and observing their risks and potential together, progressively granting greater autonomy compatibly with the age of the children”.
For the psychologist, the example and attention we give them are fundamental. “This is where we need to start: from listening to teenagers. Social media is not negative in itself, it is the use made of it that can highlight some criticalityand this is where it is important to have an adult listening. Kids now live in a world where online mixes with the real world – he concludes – they bring their sociality into play by fluidly passing through the two worlds. Difficulties arise when the possibility of integrating the two experiences disappears and the adolescent closes himself in a virtual space that he feels is more tolerable. But at this point there should be an adult capable of listening and offering valid alternatives.”
