Utah sued TikTok on Oct. 10, 2023, for allegedly using technology to keep children engaged with harmful material on the platform.
Internet addiction has become way too mainstream. It is frightening to see how glued to our screens we are in society. Everytime I see a toddler on an iPad instead of being properly raised by their parents, my heart breaks a little.
According to Pew Research Center, 85 percent of American adults go online daily while 31 percent report being “constantly online.” This is mostly affecting the younger generation and leaves me extremely worried.
I can admit that I am shamefully addicted to the internet and it has been a disaster in my social life. I find it very hard to go out and socialize with people. Since my social skills have been severely stunted, I am usually stuck online watching videos on YouTube. It isn’t entirely bad because sometimes I learn new and obscure things, but I would really rather be having a social life.
I reckon I’m not the only one living on a college campus in this predicament. I always see people on social media in classrooms. I am typically not online when I am in class but when I am not in class I am usually online.
What is most heartbreaking to me is that children being online is almost unavoidable. So many parents do not want to put in the real effort to responsibly raise their children and let a screen babysit them. To anyone who wants to become a parent reading this, I urge you to actively participate in your future child’s life. Be there for them and protect them from what will harm them.
I say all this knowing that it is virtually impossible to completely get rid of the internet in a child’s life. Sadly, too many children communicate on the internet instead of in person so it would also be detrimental to not allow your child to use the internet. Activity in small children should be monitored by parents and time limits should be set for how long they can use the internet. It is also important to respect your child’s personal autonomy and let them be their own person. I would suggest monitoring be very brief and installing blocks on what can be considered inappropriate for children. While it is detrimental to a child to neglect them, it is also harmful to be a helicopter parent.
NBC reported that Utah’s lawsuit said, “TikTok directly profited from addicting children to the app and continued to capitalize on the addictive nature of the app despite knowing the harm that addiction would cause Utah’s children.”
While I can’t say for certain what TikTok’s motives are for children on the app, I would advise parents to not allow their children to use it or most social media in general. While I have advocated for TikTok in the past saying it should not be banned, that doesn’t mean that I personally support it either.
It is important to let children communicate with their peers; they will need to have some internet access. This absolutely does not mean parents should let screens raise their children. I beg future parents to do their job properly so their children do not get addicted to the internet and have an awful social life.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
