Want answers to the mental health crisis gripping America’s teens? Look no further than TikTok, the social video app that pushes the worst in human behavior.
In two deep rig dives where she pretended to be a teenage boy and a teenage girl, Asia Grace of The Post stated that TikTok is a parent’s worst nightmare.
Log in as a 14 12 months old girl? Get bombarded with content that glorifies violence and sex (including life suggestions from sex-trafficking misogynist Andrew Tate). Not to mention the meticulously detailed “how-to” guides on college-style binge drinking, including across the jug-drinking trend that has recently sent tons of youngsters to the UMass ER.
Much more disturbing will be the undeniable fact that sad and lonely teens across the country are using the platform to unwind, detailing depression, eating disorders and anxiety – together with their preferred unhealthy coping strategies corresponding to drinking and acting.
Yes, kids need to talk. But teens in real pain need real help, not the fake contacts and self-destructive advice that attacks social media. Or the pernicious, inaccurate self-diagnoses of great mental disorders made fashionable by the platform.
Let’s not forget the transgender epidemic, almost indisputably fueled by social media. Young women uncomfortable with their bodies as they reach puberty face a deluge of online content (including doctors selling sex surgery) “explaining” why this implies they are literally men and need drastic treatment.
For young boys, the view is equally grim. As “Jayden”, Grace was served by an infinite stream of “girls lip-syncing and twerking in mini-shorts”, followed by videos disparaging violence against women, rape humor, and racial hatred. Tate also featured prominently there, with a clip showing him laughing concerning the stoning of Muslim women; others offered similar ugliness in male-female relations.
And guns, guns, guns, guns. TikTok has really useful countless videos glorifying real guns, Airsoft shooters, and all the pieces in between.
No wonder, given all this, that the rising tide of America’s “lost boys” is becoming increasingly alienated and brutal, open to probably the most wicked ideas.
TikTok penetration amongst US children is deep, with 62% of boys and 75% of ladies using the platform. So this toxic content will spread more and more widely unless motion is taken.
Which means that parents keep a watch not only on what their children are watching, but additionally on themselves. Talk to them. Sit down to dinner with them. Take them to the park, to the sport, to the museum. Don’t let the web bring them up.
It is also time to seriously consider various legislative proposals to regulate the usage of social media by children. China, where TikTok was developed, limits under-14s to 40 minutes a day on the same app Douyin, with strict content restrictions and blocks use at night. Let’s take a page from Beijing’s book (and be sure that zero government officials every time use technology while we’re at it).
Our safety culture has pronounced a curse on a carefree, free-spirited childhood, even when it fosters utter ugliness via Big Tech. This has to change before a complete generation perishes.